LIBRARY 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


Class 


University  of  California  •  Berkeley 


THE 


BURNING  OF  COLUMBIA,  S.  C. 


A.    REVIEW 


or 


NORTHERN  ASSERTIONS 


AND 


SOUTHERN    FACTS. 


BY   DR.  D.  H.  TREZEVANT. 


COLUMBIA,  S.  C  : 

S  O  I,'  T  II      C  A  R  O  L  I  N  I  A  N      I*  O  W  K  R      P  H  K  K 

1866. 


THE 


BURNING  OF  COLUMBIA,  S.  C. 


REVTEW 


OP 


NORTHERN  ASSERTIONS 


AND 


SOUTHERN    FACTS 


BY  DR.  D.  H.  TREZEVANT. 

%   '  * 


COLUMBIA,  S.  0. : 

SOUTH     CAROLINfAN     POWER     PRESS. 

1866. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congres?,  in  the  year  1866,  by 

F.  G.  DEFOXTAINE, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  South  Carolina, 


PREFACE. 


Much  discussion  has  been  evoked  on  the  question  as  to  who  is  responsible 
for  the  burning  of  Columbia,  and  the  outrages  connected  with  that  event. 
In  South  Carolina,  the  author  of  the  crime  is  known  to  be  Gen.  WILLIAM 
T.  SHERMAN;  but  among  communities  outside  of  the  State,  who  have  not 
been  made  familiar  with  the  facts,  ignorance  on  the  subject  naturally  enough 
prevails.  At  the  North  especially,  where  the  press  has  chosen  to  circulate 
only  the  one  sided  statements  of  its  contributors,  the  public  affect  to  believe 
that  Columbia  was  destroyed  by  the  Confederate  authorities;  and  books 
have  been  written,  in  which  falsehoods  are  gravely  promulgated  to  establish 
this  theory.  The  object  of  the  present  review  is  to  put  all  doubts  on  the 
subject  at  rest  forever. 

The  writer  of  the  following  pages  is  one  of  the  most  highly  respected 
citizens  of  South  Carolina,  and  has  been  a  resident  of  Columbia  for  more 
than  fifty  years.  He  was  present  during  the  most  trying  scenes  of  the  con- 
flagration, a  personal  witness  of  many  of  the  outrages  narrated,  and  as  the 
reader  will  discover,  is  in  every  way  competent  to  handle  his  subject  with 
a  clearness  and  force  which  its  importance  demands. 

The  articles  were  originally  published  in  the  Daily  South  Carolinian;  but 
at  the  request  of  many  citizens  have  been  embodied  in  a  more  permanent 
shape.  F.  Gr.  DfiFoNTAiNE, 

Editor  Daily  South  Carolinian. 


227198 


THE  BURNING  OF  COLUMBIA. 


"Who  is  to  blame  for  the  burning  of 
Columbia  is  a  subject  that  will  long  be 
disputed."  So  writes  Conyngharn  in 
his  history  of  Sherman's  grand  march, 
but  I  think  he  solved  the  difficulty  by 
his  acknowledgments  before  he  threw 
out  his  question  and  doubt.  That  con- 
troversy can  be  easily  settled  when- 
ever the  specifications  on  which  the 
charge  is  made,  are  brought  to  issue; 
after  issue,  the  truth  will  become  known. 
It  is  very  evident  that  the  belief  of  the 
writer  was  fairly  made  up  ;  that  on 
his  mind,  there  was  little  doubt  as  to 
who  was  the  cause^f  the  destruction  of 
the  city,  and  that  Sherman  was  the 
man.  In  discussing  the  question,  he, 
by  implication,  charges  Gov.  Magrath 
and  Gen.  Hampton  with  being  partly 
to  blame;  but  as  the  statement  which 
he  makes,  is  founded  on  an  erroneous 
impression,  with  the  correction  of  that 
error  it  must  fall. 

In  the  preceding  part  of  his  book 
there  are  several  circumstances  stated 
which  are  necessary  to  be  brought  into 
consideration  before  we  follow  him  in 
his  accusation;  and  it  will  be  found 
by  his  acknowledgment,  and  that  of 
others,  that  the  city  was  in  the  hands 
of  the  Yankee  army  some  time  before 
the  fire  commenced;  that  they  got  quiet 
possession,  it  having  been  turned  over 
to  them  by  the  Mayor,  and  that  all 
matters  under  the  command  of  Colonel 
Stone  were  peaceably  and  properly 
arranged.  There  is  no  mention  of  any 
insubordination,  and  not  a  hint  of  a  fire 


existing  in  the  city.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances, Stone  held  the  city  for 
about  one  hour  before  the  appearance 
of  Sherman;  and  Mayor  Goodwyn  and 
Aldermen  Stork  and  McKenzie,  certify 
that  when  they  passed  the  cotton  with 
Colonel  Stone,  it  was  not  on  fire,  nor  did 
it  take  fire  for  sometime  after  the  author- 
ity was  vested  in  him.  The  Mayor  also 
says:  "Gen.  Sherman  sent  for  me  the 
morning  after  the  city  was  burnt,  and 
said  that  he  regretted  very  much  that  it 
was  burnt ;  and  that  it  was  my  fault,  in 
suffering  liquor  to  remain  in  the  city, 
when  it  was  evacuated."  The  evidence 
of  other  gentlemen  will  be  brought  to 
bear  upon  the  time  when,  and  the  man- 
ner how  it  did  take  fire,  for  they  saw  the 
whole  affair.  Let  me  now  return  to  Con- 
yngham's  remarks,  and  it  will  be  seen 
that  as  far  as  possible  he  corroborates  the 
statement  I  have  just  made :  "Our  march 
through  the  city  was  so  orderly  that  even 
the  Southerners  began  to  bless  their  stars 
that  the  reign  of  terror  was  over,  and 
that  a  reign  of  peace  and  security,  like 
that  at  Savannah  was  about  being  in- 
augurated. Alas!  that  the  scenes  of 
the  night  should  mar  so  auspicious  a 
beginning."  "I  spent  the  evening  in 
the  Capitol,  looking  over  the  archives 
and  libraries.  Part  of  Col.  Stone's 
brigade— I  think  the  13th  Ohio,  Col. 
Kennedy's  regiment — was  on  duty 
there.  Towards  night,  crowds  of  our 
escaped  prisoners,  soldiers  and  negroes, 
intoxicated  with  their  new-born  liberty, 
which  they  looked  upon  as  a  license  to 


do  as  they  pleased,  were  parading  the 
streets  in  groups."  No  mention  as  yet 
of  any  fires  about  the  town,  or  of  any 
cotton  having  been  found  flying  about, 
or  on  fire,  but  he  writes:  "As  soon  as 
night  set  in,  there  ensued  a  sad  scene 
indeed."  (This  is  the  time  Sherman  re- 
ports that  the  fires  were  in  full  blast, 
and  that  he  had  culled  in  the  rest  of 
'Wood's  division.)  "The  suburbs  were 
first  set  on  fire" — by  whom?  the  prisoners 
and  soldiers  and  negroes  for  it  was  not 
within  500  yards  of  the  cotton  that 
Sherman  saw  burning,  "some  assert,  by 
the  burning  cotton  which  the  rebels 
had  piled  along  the  streets.  Pillaging 
gangs  soon  fired  the  heart  of  the  town, 
then  entered  the  houses,  in  many  in- 
stances, carrying  off  articles  of  value. 
The  flames  soon  burst  out  in  all  parts  of 
the  town/'  &c.,  &c.  "I  trust  I  shall 
never  witness  such  a  scene  again — 
drunken  soldiers  rushing  from  house  to 
house,  emptying  them  of  their  valu- 
ables, and  then  firing  them;  negroes 
carrying  off  piles  of  bioty,  and  grinning 
at  the  good  chance  and  exulting  like  ! 
so  many  demons ;  officers  and  men  j 
revelling  on  the  wines  and  liquors  until 
the  burning  houses  buried  them  in 
their  drunken  orgies."  I  think  this  | 
looks  very  much  like  a  city  turned  over  j 
to  the  soldiery  to  do  with  as  they  please;  j 
corresponds  with  what  they  said — that 
they  were  authorized  first  to  sack,  and 
then  to  burn  it — that  they,  both  officers 
and  men,  had  so  determined,  and  that 
it  met  with  Old  Bill's  full  approbation,  j 
"The  frequent  shots  on  every  side  j 
told  that  some  victim  had  fallen — 
shrieks  and  groans  and  cries  of  distress 
resounded  from  every  side.  A  troop  of  | 
cavalry — I  think  the  29th  Missouri — 
were  left  to  patrol  the  streets;  but  I  did 
not  once  see  them  interfering  with  the 
groups  that  rushed  about  to  fire  and  ! 
pillage  the  houses."  Methinks  after 
penning  such  a  description,  that  there 
was  no  occasion  to  ask  "who  was  to 
blame  for  the  burning  of  Columbia." 
But  let  us  see  what  more  he  has  to 


report:  "True,  Gens.  Sherman  and 
Howard,  and  others,  were  out  giving  in- 
structions for  putting  out  the  fire  in  one 
place,  while  a  hundred  fires  were  light- 
ing all  around.  How  much  better 
would  it  have  been  had  they  brought 
in  a  division  of  sofyer  troops  and  cleared 
out  the  town  with  steel  and  bullet. 
Gen.  Wood's  first  division,  15th  corps, 
occupied  Columbia;  Col.  Stone's  brigade 
was  the  first  to  enter  the  city  and  hoist 
the  flag  over  the  Capitol — enviable  no- 
toriety had  not  the  drunken,  riotous 
scenes  of  the  night  sullied  its  honor." 
Is  it  not  somewhat  strange  that  Sherman 
should  have  been  solicitous  about  the 
fire  ?  He  had  told  Gen.  Wheeler  that  he 
would  burn  all  the  cotton,  and  that  as  to 
the  empty  houses,  he  paid  little  attention 
to  whether  they  were  burnt  or  not.  We 
now  come  to  the  question,  "Who  is  to 
blame  for  the  burning  of  Columbia  is  a 
subject  that  will  be  long  disputed.  ,  I 
know  the  negroes  and  escaped  prisoners 
were  infuriated  and  easily  incited  the  in- 
ebriated soldiers  to  join  them  in  their 
work  of  vandalism.  Governor  Magrath 
and  Gen.  Wade  Hampton,  are  partly 
accountable  for  the  destruction  of 
their  city.  General  Beauregard,  Mayor 
Goodwyn  and  others,  wanted  to  send 
a  deputation  -  as  far  as  Orangeburgh 
to  surrender  the  city,  and  when 
evacuating,  to  destroy  all  the  liquors. 
In  both  of  these  wise  views  they 
were  over-ruled  by  the  Governor, 
and  Wade  Hampton,  the  latter  stating 
that  he  would  defend  the  town  from 
house  to  house." 

There  are  two  points  in  these  re- 
marks, that  require  to  be  considered. 
It  is  very  evident  that  Conynghani 
believed  that  the  returned  prisoners 
and  inebriated  soldiers,  were  the  acting 
agents;  and  that  Governor  Magrath, 
and  General  Hampton,  were  only 
blameable,  inasmuch,  as  they  did  not 
surrender  the  city  when  the  enemy 
were  forty  miles  distant.  To  the  griev- 
ous fault  committed  by  the  latter  in  not 
so  doing,  we  have  only  to  say,  that 


General  Hampton  had  no  command  at 
that  time;  could  have  had  no  voice  in 
the  affair;  and  certainly,  could  not  have 
overruled  the  wishes  of  Beauregard, 
who  was  his  superior,  and  alone  in  of- 
fice. Moreover,  the  proposition  never 
was  made.  I  now  have  by  me  a  letter 
from  Mayor  Goodwyn,  in  which  he 
states,  that  no  such  proposition  ever 
came  before  him.  This  is  the  only 
ground  on  which  Conyngham  attaches 
blame  to  Hampton,  and  I  think  I  have, 
shown  that  he  had  nothing  to  do  with  it, 
for  the  subject  never  was  discussed;  and 
so  falls  the  allegation  made  by  Conyng- 
ham. Had  the  charge  against  Hampton 
then  existed,  which  has  been  subse- 
quently made,  he  must  have  known  of  it. 
He  was  one  of  Sherman's  aids — was  at 
Headquarters — a  writer  for  the  Herald, 
and  would  not  have  omitted  such  news 
as  that.  His  object  was  to  gather  up 
whatever  would  create  a  sensation. 

I  will  add  one  or  two  more  extracts 
from  the  same  author,  relative  to  Col- 
umbia, and  then  take  the  reader  back 
to  some  of  the  scenes  on  the  route  of  the 
army  to  that  place,  to  show  the  animus 
with  which  it  entered  Carolina,  and 
the  determination  of  both  officers  and 
men,  as  to  the  course  they  intended  to 
pursue;  which  determination  was  signal- 
ly assisted,  and  strengthened  by  Sher- 
mans own  conduct  at  McBrides  planta- 
tion. That  whole  march  was  character- 
ized by  such  acts  as  we  would  have 
supposed  a  body  of  fiends  let  loose  from 
Hell  might  have  taken  some  pleasure 
in  enacting;  and  as  Nichols  says  in  his 
work  on  the  march,  "you  will  in  vain 
search  history  for  a  parallel." 

"There  can  be  no  denial  of  the  asser- 
tion, that  the  feeling  among  the  troops 
was  one  of  extreme  bitterness  towards 
the  people  of  the  State  of  South  Caro- 
lina. It  was  freely  expressed  as  the 
column  hurried  over  the  bridge  at  Sis- 
ter's ferry,  eager  to  commence  the  pun- 
ishment of  original  secessionists. 
Threatening  words  were  heard  from 
soldiers  who  prided  themselves  on  con- 


servatism in  house-burning  while  in 
Georgia,  and  officers  openly  confessed 
their  fears  that  the  coining  campaign 
would  be  a  wicked  one.  Just  or  unjust 
as  this  feeling  was  towards  the  country 
people  in  South  Carolina,  it  was  univer- 
sal. I  first  saw  its  fruits  at  Rarysburg 
(Purisburg  is  meant),  where  two  or 
three  piles  of  blackened  bricks  and  an 
acre  or  so  of  dying  embers  marked  the 
site  of  an  old  revolutionary  town;  and 
this  before  the  column  had  fairly  got 
its  hand  in." 

"At  McBride's  plantation,  where 
Gen.  Sherman  had  his  headquarters, 
the  out-houses,  offices,  shanties  and  sur- 
roundings were  all  set  on  fire  before  he 
left.  I  think  the  fire  approaching  the 
dwelling  hastened  his  departure.  If 
a  house  was  empty,  this  waspnma  fade 
evidence  that  the  owners  were  rebels, 
and  all  was  sure  to  be  consigned  to  the 
flames.  If  they  remained  at  home  it 
was  taken  for  granted  that  every  one  in 
South  Carolina  was  a  rebel,  and  the 
chances  were  the  place  was  consumed. 
In  Georgia  few  houses  were  burned ; 
here  few  escaped,  and  the  country  was 
converted  into  one  vast  bonfire.  The 
pine  forests  were  fired;  the  resin  facto- 
ries were  fired;  the  public  buildings 
and  private  dwellings  were  fired.  The 
middle  of  the  finest  day  looked  black 
and  gloomy,  for  a  dense  smoke  arose  on 
all  sides  clouding  the  very  heavens — at 
night  the  tall  pine  trees  seemed  so  many 
huge  pillars  of  fire.  The  flames  hissed 
and  screeched,  as  they  fed  on  the  fat 
resin  and  dry  branches,  imparting  to 
the  forest  a  most  fearful  appearance." 

"Vandalism  of  this  kind,  though  not 
|  encouraged,  was  seldom  punished.  True, 
where  every  one  is  guilty  alike,  there 
will  be  no  informers." 

"The  ruined  homesteads  of  the  Pal- 
metto State  will  long  be  remembered. 
The  army  might  safely  march  the  dark- 
est night,  the  crackling  pine  woods 
shooting  up  their  columns  of  flame,  and 
the  burning  houses  along  the  way  would 
light  it  on;  while  the  dark  clouds  and  pil- 


lars  of  smoke  would  safely  cover  its  rears. 
I  hazard  nothing  in  saying  that  three- 
iifths  in  value  of  the  personal  property  of 
the  counties  we  have  passed  through, 
were  taken  by  Sherman's  army.  The 
graves  were  even  ransacked,  etc.  The 
scenes  I  witnessed  in  Columbia,  were 
scenes  that  would  have  driven  Allaric 
the  Goth  into  frenzied  ecstasies  had  he 
witnessed  them." 

"As  for  the  wholesale  burnings,  pillage, 
devastation,  committed  in  South  Caro- 
lina, magnify  all  I  have  said  of  Georgia 
some  fifty  fold,  and  then  throw  in  an 
occasional  murder,  'just  to  bring  an  old 
hardfisted  cuss  to  his  senses/  and  you 
have  a  pretty  good  idea  of  the  whole 
thing.  Besides  compelling  the  enemy 
to  evacuate  Charleston,  we  destroyed 
Columbia,  Orangeburg,  and  several 
other  places,  also  over  fifty  miles  of  rail- 
road, and  thousands  of  bales  of  cotton." 
This  is  a  very  fair  admission,  and  we 
might  rest  here  and  go  no  farther.  After 
what  he  has  admitted  to  have  been  done 
on  the  route,  to  conclude  the  acts  of  the 
army  by  saying  they  had  destroyed  Co- 
lumbia was  giving  up  the  question.  On 
his  mind  there  could  have  been  no  doubt 
as  to  who  burnt  the  city,  and  as  little  as 
to  who  was  the  cause  of  its  being  burned. 

The  enviable  notoriety  is  certainly 
due  to  Sherman,  and  to  him  alone. 
Those  who  did  the  deed  were  mere  agents, 
and  acted  to  please  a  cherished  com- 
mander; they  all  stated  that  they  knew 
what  Old  Bill,  (their  pet  name  for  him) 
wanted,  and  they  were  determined  he 
should  be  gratified. 

Capt.  Cornyn  has  also  hazarded  an 
opinion  as  to  the  burning,  and  with  but 
little  hesitation  fixes  that  act  upon  Gen. 
W.  Hampton.  He  is,  however,  but  the 
copyist  and  mere  echo  of  Gen.  Sherman, 
and  gives  no  single  reason  why,  he 
should  thus  have  placed  the  odium  of 
such  an  act  upon  Gen.  Hampton.  He 
has,  however,  made  use  of  some  other 
charges  tending  to  implicate  Gen. 
Hampton,  which  alone  induces  me  to 
take  any  notice  of  him  here.  His  de- 


scription is  that  of  Sherman's  verbatim, 
with  a  few  additions  and  rhetorical 
flourishes  to  render  it  more  plausible. 
Capt.  Cornyn  in  his  letter  to  Archbishop 
Hughes  thus  writes:  "Shortly  after  our 
columns  were  put  in  motion,  the  enemy 
beat  a  hasty  retreat  for  the  city,  burning 
the  bridges  as  they  crossed  the  river. 
Here  permit  me  to  say  that  Gen.  Hamp- 
ton, on  the  15th  and  16th  February,  had 
it  in  his  power  to  save  Columbia,  and  to 
save  his  people  from  the  terrible  desola- 
tion that  swept  over  their  city  on  the 
night  of  the  17th  and  18th."  Again  he 
says  "had  Gen.  Hampton  acted  the  part 
of  a  great  captain,  etc.,  etc,  he  would 
have  proposed  on  the  15th  and  16th  to 
have  surrendered  his  army,  and  country 
to  Sherman,  for  the  promise  of  protec- 
tion. I  am  satisfied  in  my  own  mind, 
that  Gen.  Sherman  would  have  accept- 
ed it,  but  Gen.  Hampton  pursued  a  dif- 
ferent and  most  fratricidal  course.  On 
Thursday  the  16th  February,  General 
Hamptom  ordered  all  cotton  to  be  rolled 
in  the  streets,  preparatory  to  burning 
the  same."  No  such  words  are  to  be 
found  in  the  order,  but  as  I  shall  ex- 
amine and  reply  to  that  part  of  the  ac- 
cusation against  Hampton  when  I  take 
up  Sherman's  charge,  of  which  this  is 
but  the  echo,  I  will  only  now  say  that 
the  order  alluded  to  by  Cornyn  was 
given  on  the  14th,  not  on  the  16th,  two 
days  before  Hampton  was  in  command. 
For  the  same  reason,  had  he  been 
willing,  he  could  not  have  proposed  a 
surrender,  and  I  am  satisfied  in  my  own 
mind,  that  Sherman  for  that  reason 
would  have  taken  no  notice  of  it. 

Captain  Cornyn  states  that  when 
he  came  into  the  town:  "We  found 
several  buildings  burning  when  we  en- 
tered. The  cotton  in  the  streets  was 
burning  in  many  places,  &c.j"  and 
again:  "There  were  hundreds  of  bales 
of  cotton  in  the  streets  from  which  the 
devouring  clement  was  hissing  forth. 
So  high  was  the  wind  that  it  frequently 
carried  immense  sheets  of  burning  cot- 
ton ten  and  even  fifteen  squares  through 


the  air  like  a  burning  comet,  leaving 
in  its  wake  fiery  desolation. "  I  have 
only  to  say  to  this  grandiloquent  de- 
'seription,  that  it  is  not  true.  There 
was  no  house  on  fire  when  the  army 
came  in.  There  was  but  one  pile  of 
cotton  burning  at  12  o'clock-  it  was  put 
out  by  one,  and  completely.  It  never 
blazed  again,  nor  did  a  single  house  catch 
fire  from  it.  Capt.  Cornyn  was  entirely 
mistaken.  There  arc  some  other  errors 
in  that  letter,  but  they  are  not  worth  the 
trouble  of  refuting. 

Major  Nichols  next  presents  himself, 
and  as  a  staff  officer  of  Gen.  Sherman, 
we  may  suppose  that  ego  ctrcx  meus  to 
be  one.  His  account  is  very  much 
the  counterpart  of  Sherman's,  but  he 
has  many  remarks  and  admissions  that 
arc  peculiarly  apropos  to  the  subject, 
and  calculated  to  lead  one  definitely  to 
the  object  sought  after,  viz :  "who  is  to 
blame  for  the  burning  of  Columbia." 
Major  Nichols  remarks  under  the  date 
of  oOth  January:  "The  actual  invasion 
of  South  Carolina  has  begun.  The 
well  known  sight  of  columns  of  black 
smoke  meets  our  gaze  again;  this 
time  houses  are  burning,  and  South 
Carolina  has  commenced  to  pay  an  in- 
stalment, long  overdue,  on  her  debt  to 
justice  and  humanity.  With  the  help 
of  God,  we  will  have  principal  and  in- 
terest before  we  leave  her  borders. 
There  is  a  terrible  gladness  in  the  re- 
alization of  so  many  hopes  and  wishes."' 
Again,  Nichols  exclaims :  "But  here  we 
are  ;  and  wherever  our  footsteps  pass, 
fire,  ashes  and  desolation  follow  in  the 
path."  In  speaking  of  the  occupation 
of  the  city,  "On  every  side  were  evi- 
dences of  disorder;  bales  of  cotton 
scattered  here  and  there,  articles  of 
merchandise  and  furniture  cast  pell 
mell  in  every  direction  by  the  frighten- 
ed inhabitants,  &c."  But  no  mention 
of  anything  on  firo.  Nichols  writes: 
"I  began  to-day's  record  early  in  the 
evening,  and  while  writing,  1  noticed 
an  unusual  glare  in  the  sky  and  heard 
a  sound  of  running  to  and  fro  in  the 


streets.  Running  out,  I  found  to  my 
surprise  and  real  sorrow,"  (why  so  after 
the  expressions  used  above?)  "that  the 
central  part  of  the  city,  including  the 
main  business  street,  was  in  flames, 
while  the  wind,  which  had  been  blow- 
ing a  hurricane  all  day,  was  driving  the 
sparks  and  cinders  in  heavy  masses 
over  the  eastern  portion  of  the  city 
where  the  finest  residences  are  situated. 
Those  buildings,  all  wooden,  were  in- 
stantly ignited  by  the  flying  sparks.  In 
half  an  hour  the  conflagration  was 
raging  in  every  direction,  &c."  It 
will  be  perceived  that  both  Conynghain 
and  Nichols  state  that  the  fire  com- 
menced in  the  evening,  after  dark,  at 
the  very  time  that  Sherman  states  it  to 
have  been  so  great  that  he  had  to  call 
in  Wood's  division.  It  will  be  observ- 
ed also,  that  Conyngham,  in  his  re- 
marks, states  "that  Sherman  and  How- 
ard, instead  of  looking  after  a  single 
fire,  when  hundreds  were  burning 
around,  had  better  have  called  in  fresh 
troops  and  driven  the  drunkards  out 
with  steel  and  lead."  And  again,  that  he 
says,  "about  day  Wood's  division  was 
called  on,  when  nothing  was  left  to 
pillage  or  burn.".  It  is  important  to 
bear  these  facts  in  memory,  as  it  will  be 
seen  that  when  Sherman  gives  an 
account  of  the  catastrophe  to  freo  him- 
self from  blame,  he  changes  the  whole 
order  of  the  affair  and  makes  the  fires 
to  have  been  burning  all  day,  but  leap- 
ing into  life  and  activity  when  tho 
night  came  on,  and  requiring  him  to 
call  for  additional  assistance.  Nichols 
says  "Gen.  Howard  and  his  officers 
worked  with  their  own  hands  until  long 
after  midnight,  trying  to  save  life  and 
property;"  we  presume,  for  the  purpose 
of  having  it  presented  to  them,  as  he, 
Nichols  has  so  naively  detailed  on  page 
204 — the  manner  in  which  silver 
goblets,  &c.,  had  found  their  way  into 
the  camp. 

Nichols  proceeds  and  states:  "Va- 
rious causes  are  assigned  to  explain  the 
origin  of  the  fire.  1  am  quite  sure  that 


10 


it  originated  in  sparks  flying  from  the 
hundreds  of  bales  of  cotton  which  the 
rebels  had  placed  along  the  middle  of 
the  main  street,  and  fired  as  they  left 
the  city."  This  is  mere  assertion  ;  no 
proof  of  the  fact  has  been  offered  ; 
the  number  is  exaggerated,  there  being 
not  more  than  fifty  bales,  and  from 
their  own  statemencs,  there  is  every 
reason  to  believe  that  it  was  not  so.  It 
is  positively  certain  that  up  to  half-past 
eleven  o'clock,  there  had  been  no  fire 
in  the  city;  and  then  it  had  been  un- 
der the  command  of  Col.  Stone  for 
fully  one  hour.  Again,  he  says:  "There 
were  fires,  however,  which  must  have 
been  started  independent  of  the  above 
named  cause.  The  source  of  these  is 
ascribed  to  the  desire  for  revenge  from 
some  200  of  our  prisoners  who  had 
escaped  from  the  cars  as  they  were  be- 
ing conveyed  from  this  city  to  Char- 
lotte, £c."  Again,  it  i*  said  that  "the 
soldiers  who  first  entered  the  town,  in- 
toxicated with  success  and  a  liberal 
supply  of  bad  liquor,  &c.,  set  fi^e  to  un- 
occupied houses.0  There  has  neverbeen 
any  proof  offered  as  to  the  cotton  hav- 
ing been  fired  by  Hampton's  orders,  or 
by  his  men.  It  stands  alone  upon  the 
authority  of  Gen.  Sherman's  ipse  dixit. 
Col.  Stone,  who  had  the  best  opportu- 
nity of  judging  of  the  fact,  has  not  been 
appealed  to  and  has  made  no  such  re- 
port. His  evidence  would  have  ten 
times  the  weight  of  Sherman's  asser- 
tion, as  he  was  the  first  to  enter,  passed 
through  the  Main  street,  went  by  the 
cotton  and  saw  it,  and  left  his  men  at 
that  very  spot.  From  thence  he  went 
to  the  Capitol  with  Alderman  Stork. 
The  men  left,  occupied  themselves  as 
men  will  do,  by  lounging  about  the 
cotton,  laying  on  it  and  smoking,  and 
whilst  doing  so,  the  cotton  was  discov- 
ered to  be  on  fire  about  one  hour  after 
they  had  been  there. 

Nichols  proceeds  with  his  narrative 
and  writes.  "Houses  have  unquestion- 
ably been  burned  during  our  march, 
but  they  were  the  property  of  notorious 


rebels  who  were  fortunate  in  escaping 
so  easily ;  while  I  have  yet  to  hear  of  a 
single  instance  of  outrage  offered  to  a 
woman  or  a  child  by  any  soldier  of  our 
army."  We  do  not  know  what  Major 
Nichols  may  consider  an  outrage,  but 
for  a  man  to  catch  a  lady  by  the  throat, 
and  thrust  his  hand  into  her  bosom  to 
feel  for  her  watch,  or  purse,  would  in 
former  days  have  been  regarded  as 
such.  So  would  the  lifting  up  of  a 
lady's  dress,  because  she  was  not  quick 
enough  in  freeing  her  purse  from  her 
girdle,  the  threats  of  death  and  a  pis- 
tol at  her  head  having  alarmed  her  and 
caused  her  to  give.  I  should  hardly 
suppose  that  even  in  such  an  army  as 
was  led  by  Sherman,  it  would  have 
been  considered  very  chivalric  to  place 
[  a  pistol  at  a  lady's  breast,  and  demand 
her  watch  and  jewels,  whilst  a  compan- 
ion put  another  to  the  head  of  her 
daughter  and  demanded  the  same.  Nor 
would  I  deem  that  man  entitled  to  ad- 
mission in  civilized  society,  who  would 
insult  the  feelings  of  a  lady  by  taking 
to  a  room,  which  he  had  forced  from 
her,  and  opposite  to  her  own  sleep- 
ing apartment  and  that  of  her  daugh- 
ter, a  negro  womaq  and  remain  there 
with  hvr  all  night  and  go  off  with 
her  in  the  morning;  yet  this  was  done  by 
one  Capt.  W.  T.  I)uglass,  a  commissary, 
whose  name  was  mentioned  to  the  lady 
by  his  clerk,  Mr.  Sutherland,  with  a  re- 
quest that  it  should  be  published  for 
that  act,  and  for  the  theft  he  had  been 
guilty  of  in  her  house  as  every  man 
ought  to  be,  who  took  up  his  quar- 
ters in  a  house  and  suffered  it  to  be  pil- 
laged as  hers  had  been.  But  what  shall 
I  say  of  the  villain  who  fired  the  house 
of  a  lone  woman,  and  then  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  lady  took  hold  of  her  maid 
and  compelled  her  to  be  subservient  to 
his  brutal  wishes?  Words  are  wanting 
properly  to  designate  such  an  act,  and 
we  can  only  say  it  would  have  disgraced 
even  Butler  the  beast.  Yet  those  acts 
were  committed  in  many  of  the  houses;  in 
some  instances  done  by  officers  as  well  as 


11 


men;  hence  the  "screams  and  shrieks 
and  groans  and  pistol  shots"  that  were 
heard  by  Conyngham  and  related  by  him 
on  page  331.  Still  further  and  more  wan- 
ton atrocities  were  committed,  such  as 
no  one  would  repeat,  and  none  but  the 
lowest  grade  of  blackguardism  could 
have  perpetrated. 

So  far  as  the  Carolinian  lady  was  con- 
cerned, much  respect  was  shown  to  her 
person  and  her  character.  She  was  rob- 
bed and  abused,  to  obtain  her  jewels  and 
her  money;  but  the  instances  .of  other 
injuries,  though  many,  were  not  pro- 
portionate to  the  opportunities.  The 
Yankee's  gallantry,  debauchery  and  bru- 
tality, were  confined  to  the  negro;  he 
affiliated  with  them;  they  were  congen- 
ial spirits;  their  habits,  their  thoughts 
and  their  natures  assimilated ;  they  were 
their  associates  in  thcAcamp,in  the  streets 
and  in  the  ball-room;  and  it  was  among 
that  class,  that  their  brutal  indelicacy 
occurred.  Neither  party  felt  shame  for 
what  passed  between  them;  but  like  the 
beasts  of  the  forest,  indulged  in  their 
caprices  wherever  they  met.  It  was  not 
unusual  to  see  a  Yankee  soldier  with  his 
arm  around  the  neck  of  a  negro  wench, 
even  in  the  common  thoroughfares,  or 
hugging  and  kissing  a  mulatto  girl, 
when  he  could  find  one  so  degraded, 
that  she  would  not  spurn  him  for  his 
impudence  and  want  of  common  decency. 

I  will  give  one  extract  more  from 
Nichols  and  then  turn  to  his  com- 
mander who  was  the  source  from 
which  the  foul  slander  emanated,  and 
see  on  what  authority  he  makes  his 
charge.  "In  the  record  of  great  wars 
we  read  of  vast  armies  marching  through 
an  enemy's  country,  carrying  death  and 
destruction  in  their  path;  of  villages 
burned,  cities  pillaged,  a  tribe  or  a  na- 
tion swept  out  of  existence.  History, 
however,  will  be  searched  in  vain  for  a 
parallel  to  the  scathing  and  destructive 
effect  of  the  invasion  of  the  Carolinas." 
"Putting  aside  the  mere  military  ques- 
tion for  a  moment,  there  are  considera- 
tions which,  overleaping  the  present  gen- 


|  oration,  affect  the  future  existence  of 
the  section  of  the  country  through  which 
our  army  has  marched  I"  "Over  a  re- 
gion forty  miles  in  width  stretching 
from  Savannah  to  Port  Royal  through 
South  Carolina  to  G-oldsboro  in  North 
Carolina,  agriculture  and  commerce, 
even  if  peace  come  speedily,  cannot  be 
fully  revived  in  our  day."  "Day  by 
day  our  legions  of  armed  men  surged 
over  the  land,  destroying  its  substance. 
Cattle  were  gathered  into  increasing 
droves;  fresh  horses  and  mules  were 
taken  to  replace  the  lame  and  feeble 
animals ;  rich  granaries  and  store  houses 
were  stripped  of  corn,  fodder,  meal  and 
|  flour;  cotton  gins,  presses,  factories  and 
|  mills  were  burned  to  the  ground,  on 
1  every  side;  the  head,  centre  and  rear  of 
our  column  might  be  traced  by  columns 
of  smoke  by  day  and  the  glare  of  fires 
by  night."  "In  all  the  length  and 
|  breadth  of  that  broad  pathway  the  burn- 
ing hand  of  war  pressed  heavily,  blast- 
ing and  withering  where  it  fell."  And 
such  was  the  act  of  a  band  of  brothers, 
anxious  for  the  return  of  the  South  to 
the  Union,  to  restore  the  friendly  re- 
lations between  the  two  sections  of 
country.  Such  were  the  means  used  to 
bring  about  fraternal  concord,  to  reunite 
a  mistake  n  people,  to  restore  them  to 
their  pristine  condition,  and  insure  a 
lasting  peace.  It  was  a  most  extraordi- 
nary device — one  worthy  of  Sherman 
from  whom  it  emanated,  but  it  really 
seems  more  in  unison  with  the  views  of 
the  officer  who  while  wishing  them  all  in 
hell,  yet  was  determined  to  "smelt 
them  back  into  the  Union."  TV  hero 
was  the  Constitution  they  were  fighting 
for ;  where  the  individualities  of  tho 
States  that  had  so  long  been  cherished? 
where  those  rights  so  sacred  that  the  gen- 
eral government  could  not  even  purchase 
a  piece  of  land  without  asking  for  and 
obtaining  the  sanction  of  the  State  ?  All 
ignored,  all  gone,  all  sunk  and  smelted 
into  the  one  grand  consolidated  national 
government  of  Sherman,  with  more 
absolute  power  over  the  lives  and  liberty 


of  the   people    than    tho   autocrat   of 
Russia. 

From  the  subordinates,  let  me  now 
turn  to  the  great  leader,  whose  word 
was  law,  and  whose  nod  was  destiny. 
Let  us  sec  what  Sherman  says  as  to 
"who  is  to  blame  for  the  burning  of 
Columbia. "  In  the  frequent  conversa- 
tion which  Sherman  had  with  the  in- 
habitants of  the  town,  he  uniformly 
attributed  its  destruction  to  the  whiskey 
which  his  men  obtained,  and  their 
subsequent  intoxication.  In  no  in- 
stance that  I  have  ever  heard,  did  he 
attribute  it  to  General  Hampton,  nor  in 
3iis  letters,  did  he  deny  his  complicity 
in  the  affair,  until  his  report  to  the 
General  Government ;  then,  for  the 
first  time,  we  learned  that  General 
Sherman  disci-aimed  having  had  any- 
thing to  do  with  its  destruction;  that  on 
the  contrary,  he  ordered  it  not  to  be 
burnt.  Such  having  been  the  fact,  it 
certainly  was  very  unfortunate  for  the 
citizens  of  Columbia,  that  the  Generals 
views  should  have  been  so  much  mis- 
understood, and  that  all  the  soldiers  and 
officers  who  came  into  the  city,  were 
under  the  impression  it  was  a 
doomed  city,  and  was  to  be  given  up 
to  pillage  until  night ;  and  then  at  a 
signal  given,  it  was  to  be  burnt.  Such 
undoubtedly  was  the  prevailing  opin- 
ion, and  a  nervous  restlessness  was  to 
be  observed  about  them,  an  anxious 
looking  out  for  an  expected  event, 
which  they  instantly  recognized  and  hail- 
ed when  the  rockets  were  thrown  up,  and 
immediately  proceeded  to  their  task. 
That  General  Sherman  had  given,  his 
orders  to  General  Howard,  to  burn  all 
the  public  buildings,  by  which  he 
meant  all  that  had  been  used  in  the 
XJonfed.erate  service,  he  himself,  ac- 
knowledges. That  he  did  so  before  he 
entered  the  town,  or  became  acquainted 
with  their  position,  is  also  certain;  that 
they  were  so  situated,  their  crema- 
tion would  end  in  one  general  confla- 
gration, wag  patent  to  every  one,  and 
ihc  order  given  for  their  destruction 


was,  as  a  matter  of  course,  an  order 
for  the  destruction  of  the  city ;  that 
General  Sherman  gave  that  order  he 
has  himself  recorded  ;  but  in  no  place 
has  he  shown  where  the  order  ever 
was  countermanded,  or  where  regard- 
ing the  safety  of  the  city  he  had 
guaranteed,  with  such  a  wind  as  was 
blowing,  that  he  sought  the  means  to 
prevent  the  catastrophe.  From  the 
statement  of  his  officers,  it  was  certain 
that  he  could  have  prevented  it.  It 
was  certain  that  he  made  no  effort  to 
do  so — and  absolutely  certain  that  he 
allowed  the  very  corps  who  had  ex- 
hibited the  greatest  animosity,  and 
uttered  the  most  violent  threats  to  enter 
the  city,  remain  in  it  when  drunk,  and 
continue  there  until  its  destruction  was 
completed,  or  as  ConyDgham  writes 
"until  there  was  nothing  more  to  pilfer 
or  burn."  The  same  men  who  were 
detailed  to  destroy  it,  entered  with 
the  belief  that  it  would  be  peculiarly 
agreeable  to  him,  as  General  Howard 
says.  They  stated  such  to  be  their  in- 
tention. Stated  that  their  orders  were 
on  the  appearance  of  a  certain  signal, 
the  rockets,  that  they  were  to  fire  and 
pillage,  and  to  continue  until  the  bugle's 
sound  countermanded  the  orders,  and 
called  in  the  incendiaries.  Such  were  the 
facts  stated  by  hundreds  of  the  soldiers, 
and  officers  as  early  as  12  o'clcloek  in 
the  day,  and  such  were  the  facts  that 
developed  themselves  on  the  approach 
of  the  evening.  General  Sherman  in 
his  remarks  to  the  Secretary  of  War, 
endeavours  to  exculpate  himself,  and  to 
fix  the  terrible  accident  on  another. 
It  is  my  object,  now,  to  state  the  charge 
of  the  General,  and  to  show  to  the 
world  that  it  was  not  true;  and  that 
from  all  the  incident?  previous,  and 
subsequent  to  his  entrance  into  Colum- 
bia, he  himself  and  no  other  was  the 
cause  of  the  destruction  of  the  city  of 
Columbia. 

He  writes  :  ".In  anticipation  of  the 
occupation  of  the  city,  I  had  made 
written  orders  to  General  Howard 


13 


touching  tlic  conduct  of  the  troops. 
These  were  to  destroy  absolutely  all 
arsenals  aud  public  property  not  need- 
ed for  our  own  use,  as  well  as  railroads, 
depots  and  machinery,  useful  in  war  to 
an  enemy;  but  to  spare  all  dwellings, 
colleges,  schools,  asylum  and  harmless 
property.  I  was  the  first  to  cross  the 
pontoon-bridge,  and  in  company  with 
General  Howard  rode  into  the  city. 
The  day  was  clear,  but  a  perfect  tem- 
pest of  wind  was  raging.  The  brigade 
of  Colonel  Stone  was  already  in  the 
city  and  was  properly  posted.  Citizens 
and  soldiers  were  on  the  streets,  and 
general  good  order  prevailed.  General 
Wade  Hampton,  who  commanded  the 
Confederate  rear  guard  of  calvary,  had 
in  anticipation  of  the  capture  of  Colum- 
bia, ordered  that  all  cotton,  public  and 
private,  should  be  moved  into  the  streets 
and  fired,  to  prevent  our  making  use  of 
it.  Bales  were  piled  everywhere,  the 
rope  and  bagging  cut,  and  tufts  of 
cotton  were  blown  about  in  the  wind, 
lodged  in  the  trees  and  against  houses, 
so  as  to  resemble  a  snow  storm.  Some 
of  these  piles  of  cotton  were  burning, 
especially,  one  in  the  very  heart  of  the 
city,  near  the  Court  House,  but  the  fire 
was  partially  subdued  by  the  labors  of 
our  soldiers.  Before  one  single  public 
building  had  been  fired  by  order,  the 
smouldering  fires  set  by  Hampton's 
orders  were  rekindled  by  the  wind  and 
communicated  to  the  buildings  around. 
About  dark,  they  began  to  spread  and 
got  beyond  the  control  of  the  brigade 
on  duty  within  the  city.  The  whole 
of  Woods'  division  was  brought  in,  but 
it  was  found  impossible  to  check  the 
flames,  which,  by  midnight  became  un- 
manageable, and  raged  until  about  4 
a.  m.,  when  the  wind  subsiding,  they 
were  got  under  control."  "  I  was  up 
nearly  all  night,  and  saw  Generals 
Howard,  Log;in,  Wood  and  others, 
laboring  to  save  houses,  etc-.,  etc."  "  I 
disclaim  on  the  part  of  my  army  any 
agency  in  this  fire,  but  on  the  contrary, 
claim  that  we  saved  what  of  Columbia 


remains  uncansumed.  And  without 
hesitation,  I  charge  General  Wade 
Hampton  with"  having  burned  his  own 
city  of  Columbia,  not  with  a  malicious 
intent,  or  as  the  manifestation  of  a 
silly  "  Roman  stoicism,"  but  from  folly 
and  want  of  sense,  in  filling  it  with  lint, 
cotton  and  tinder.  Our  officers  and  men 
on  duty  worked  well  to  extinguish  the 
flames  ;  but  others  not  on  duty,  includ- 
ing the  officers  who  had  long  been  im- 
prisoned there,  rescued  by  us,  may  havo 
assisted  in  spreading  the  fire,  and  may 
have  indulged  in  unconcealed  joy  to  sec 
the  ruins  of  the  capital  of  South  Caroli- 
na." I  have  already  alluded  to  the  or- 
ders given  to  General  Howard  in  antici- 
pation of  the  taking  of  the  city,  and  of 
the  reckless  and  wanton  destruction  of 
property  that  must  arise  therefrom,  and 
not  being  acquainted  with  the  position 
of  the  houses  which  were  thus  doomed 
to  destruction — one  of  which,  the  Cen- 
tral Bureau,  the  third  house  fired,  was 
ignited  by  Yankee  soldiers,  and  put  out 
and  was  again  fired,  and  was  the  cause 
of  the  destruction  of  the  whole  block. 
It  was  near  a  large  dry  goods  store  and 
drug  establishment,  which  were  also 
fired  at  the  same  time,  by  a  Yan- 
kee soldier  furnished  with  combus- 
tibles. This  Bureau  was  one  of  the 
buildings  ordered  by  Sherman  to  be 
fired,  and  for  this  purpose  several 
men  were  detailed.  They  waited  for 
the  signal,  and  in  ten  minutes  after 
it  was  given,  the  place  was  in  flames. 
It  was  impossible  that  this  build- 
ing could  have  been  fired  by  the 
cotton ;  it  was  to  the  northward 
and  westward  of  the  cotton,  with  a  hur- 
ricane blowing  from  northwest.  About 
the  same  time,  the  house  of  Mr.  Jacob 
Bell  was  set  fire  to  and  burned  This 
house  was  at  least  five  squares  to  the 
northward  and  eastward,  and  it  also  was 
safe  from  the  cotton,  but  not  from  the 
turpentine  carried  about  by  the  incen- 
diaries. There  is  no  evidence  that  the 
order  for  burning  was  recalled,  and  Gen. 
Howard  acknowledged  that  the  troops 


14 


were  under  the  impression  that  Sher- 
man wished  the  city  destroyed.  I  will 
refer  to  this  hereafter.  Sherman  says 
"the  brigade  of  Col.  Stone  was  already 
in  the  city  and  properly  posted — citi- 
zens and  soldiers  were  in  the  street  to- 
gether, and  general  good  order  prevail- 
ed. "  Except  in  their  stealing,  such  was 
the  fact  and  contined  so  until  after  dark 
when  the  rockets  were  discharged,  and 
then  the  whole  scene  changed.  (See  Con- 
yngham'sandNichol'saccounitof  thecon- 
ductof  the  troops  &o.,  at  that  time.)  What 
was  it  that  changed  the  orderly  soldier 
obedient  to  his  commander,  to  the  mid- 
night assassin,  robber  and  house-burner? 
Three  rockets  discharged — the  signal 
agreed  on  when  as  the  soldiers  said  "Hell 
was  to  be  let  loose  and  the  city  wrapped  in 
flames."  But  let  me  take  Sherman  up  in 
the  order  of  his  report.  "Gen.  Hampton 
who  commanded  etc.,  ordered  that  all  cot- 
ton should  be  moved  in  the  streets  and 
lired  to  prevent  our  making  use  of  it." 

In  his  letter  to  llawls,  Sherman  says 
that  in  the  printed  order  which  he  saw, 
Hampton  ordered  "that  on  the  approach 
of  the  Yankee  army  all  the  cotton 
should  be  burned."  This  order  which 
he  says  he  saw,  and  worded  as  above 
is  the  proof  that  he  offers  of  Gen.  Hamp- 
ton having  burned  the  town.  He  has 
no  other.  It  is  the  ground  of  the 
whole  charge,  and  the  one  on  which  all 
his  allegations  are  founded.  Were  I  to 
grant  that  an  order  had  been  given  by 
Hampton,  it  would  become  necessary 
for  Gen.  Sherman  to  prove  that  the  one 
he  had  named  was  the  identical  one  ; 
and  that  it  gave  the  direction,  and  au- 
thority to  act,  which  Sherman  states ; 
but  I  am  not  disposed  to  cede  so  much, 
and  I  think  it  can  be  made  apparent, 
though  in  his  name,  that  t\e  order  did 
not  emanate  from  him — that  he  sought 
to  have  it  countermanded,  succeeded 
in  so  doing,  and  had  it  stopped.  That 
order  is  dated 

HEADQUARTERS,  Feb.  14, 1865. 

[Special  Order  No. ] 

All  persons  having    cotton  stored  in 


tho  city  of  Columbia,  are  directed  to 
have  it  placed  where  it  can  be  burned 
ia  case  of  necessity,  without  danger  of 
destroying  buildings.  All  cotton  stored 
here  will  be  burned  at  any  cost  rather 
than  allow  it  to  fall  in  the  hands  of  the 
enemy.  By  order  of 

Major  Gen.  HAMPTON. 
R.  Lowndes,  Capt.  and  A.  A.  G. 

Feb.  15th. 

I  think  it  will  be  difficult  to  show  in 
that  order,  any  directions  to  roll  the 
cotton  into  the  streets,  or  to  fire  it  upon 
the  approach  of  the  Yankee  army.  It 
contains  nothing  of  the  kind  ;  it  is  a 
precautionary  order  to  be  acted  on  if  a 
necessity  should  occur.  General  Sher- 
man was  too  well  acquainted  with  what 
was  transpiring  in  the  army  of  his  op- 
ponent, not  to  know  that  Gen.  Hampton 
at  the  time  that  order  was  given  was 
not  in  command — that  order  is  dated 
on  the  14th.  Gen.  Hampton  was  put 
in  command  on  the  night  of  the  16th  ; 
he  therefore  could  have  had  no  author- 
ity to  issue  such  a  one;  he  was  only  as- 
sisting Beauregard.  How  that  order 
was  printed  in  his  name  I  know  not, 
and  cannot  therefore  speak.  I  presume 
it  could  be  explained,  but  for  my  pur- 
poses it  is  not  necessary.  It  unques- 
tionably is  not  such  an  order  as  Sher- 
man stated  that  he  saw — no  rolling  into 
the  streets — and  by  it  no  one  was  au- 
thorized to  fire  the  cotton.  It  was  one 
of  precaution,  to  be  acted  on  under  a 
contingency,  and  of  that  contingency 
Gen.  Hampton  was  to  be  the  judge. 
No  authority  was  given  to  any  one  to 
burn  it,  nor  could  it  have  been  burnt  but 
by  the  order  of  Hampton,  who  was  to 
judge  of  the  necessity.  That  ho  did 
not  issue  that  order  is  to  my  mind  very 
plain,  for  if  he  had  done  so,  he  would 
have  had  the  same  power  that  gave  the 
order,  to  authorize  him  to  withdraw  it ; 
but  it  seems  he  felt  that  he  had  not,  for 
immediately  upon  taking  his  command 
as  Lieut.  General,  he  applied  to  Beau- 
regard  to  get  the  order  countermanded, 
as  will  be  seen  by  the  following  corres- 


15 


pondcnce.      Gen.   Hampton   writes   to 
Gen.  Beauregard  as  follows  : 

April  22,  1866. 

"Gen.  Sherman  having  charged  me 
in  his  official  report  with  the  destruc- 
tion of  Columbia,  and  having  reiterated 
the  same  falsehood  in  a  recent  letter  to 
13enj.  Ra7,ls  of  that  city,  may  I  beg 
you  to  state  such  facts  in  reference  to 
this  matter  as  are  in  your  possession. 
If  you  recollect,  I  advised  you  on  the 
morning  the  Yankees  came  in,  not  to 
burn  the  cotton  as  this  would  endanger 
the  town.  I  stated  that  as  they  hud  de- 
stroyed the  railroad  they  could  not  re- 
move the  cotton.  Upon  this  represen- 
tation you  directed  me  to  issue  an  or- 
der that  the  cotton  should  not  be  burned. 
This  I  did  at  once,  and  there  was  not  a 
bale  on  fire  when  the  Yankees  came 
into  the  town.  You  saw  the  cotton  as 
you  left  the  city,  and  you  can  state  that 
none  was  on  fire.  Very  respectfullv 
yours.  W.  II. 

To  Gen.  Beauregard. 
To  which  Gen.  Beauregard   returned 
the  following   answer   endorsed  on  the 
letter : 

N.  0.,  May  2,  1866. 
The  above  statement  of  Gen.  Hamp- 
ton relative  to  the  order  issued  by  me 
at  Columbia,  S.  C.,  not  to  burn  the  cot- 
ton in  that  city  is  perfectly  true  and 
correct.  The  only  thing  on  fire  at  the 
time  of  the  evacuation  was  the  depot 
building  of  the  S.  C.  R.  R.,  which 
caught  fire  accidentally  from  the  explo- 
sion of  some  ammunition  ordered  to  be 
sent  towards  Charlotte,  N.  C. 

G.  T.  BEAUREGARD. 
Evidence  such  as  this  ought  to  be 
sufficient  to  exonerate  Hampton  from 
all  agency  in  the  burning  of  the  cotton. 
The  fact  that  he  asked  Beauregard  to 
countermand  the  order,  evidences  that 
he  himself  had  not  authority  to  do  so; 
and  if  he  had  no  authority  to  counter- 
mand, certainly  he  could  have  had  none 
to  order.  His  asking  for  that  power 
destroys  the  validity  of  the  whole  charge. 


But  is  the  order  such  as  Sherman  states 
it  ?  I  think  not.  It  gave  authority  to  no 
one  to  burn  the  cotton.  That  the  cot- 
ton was  not  on  fire  when  Generals 
Beauregard  and  Hampton  left  Colum- 
bia is  now  stated;  and  the  Mayor  testi- 
fies that  when  he  left  the  city  to  go  and 
meet  Sherman  there  was  no  fire  of 
any  kind  in  the  city;  and  he  testifies  to 
the  fact  that  when  he  came  back  with 
Colonel  Stone  the  cotton  was  not  then 
on  fire.  Aldermen  McKenzie  and  Stork 
both  testify  to  the  same,  and  Stork 
says  that  he  saw  the  Yankee  soldiers 
light  their  segars  and  throw  the  matches 
in  among  the  cotton.  Upon  McKenzie's 
pointing  out  cotton  to  Captain  Pratt, 
and  that  very  pile,  Captain  Pratt  re- 
marked, "I  wish  you  had  burnt  the 
whole;  it  would  have  saved  us  trouble, 
as  our  orders  are  to  burn  all  the  cotton 
in  the  town."  Had  the  cotton  bsen  on 
fire  Pratt  would  have  noticed  and  spoken 
ofit.  Alderman  McKenzie,  who  was  the 
Captain  of  one  of  the  Fire  Companies, 
states  that  it  was  somo  time  after  his 
return  with  Stone  and  Pratt  before  the 
cotton  was  on  fire,  and  when  the  alarm 
was  given  he  proceeded  to  the  place, 
aud  never  left  it  until  the  fire  was 
perfectly  extinguished,  and  the  cotton 
so  soaked  that  it  could  not  again  blaze 
out.  Alderman  Stork  says  the  same, 
and  adds,  moreover,  that  even  tic  con- 
flagration of  the  night  had  not  been  able 
to  burn  it,  for  it  was  laying  there  for 
some  days  after.  Some  was  then  remov- 
ed and  the  rest  trodden  down  and 
incorporated  into  the  ground.  There 
are  hundreds  of  witnesses  to  the  same 
fact. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Shand  was  present 
when,  the  cotton  took  fire  and  I  will 
quote  what  he  says  in  a  letter  to  me  on 
the  subject,  and  then  leave  that  part  of 
it  as  settled  :  "There  was  a  row  of 
cotton  bales  which  had  been  loosely 
packed,  and  from  almost  all  of  which 
portions  of  the  fabric  were  protruding. 
Along  this  line  of  bales  there  were 
numbers  of  Yankee  soldiers,  and  none 


16 


but  they — thc'citizens  who  were  present 
being  confined  to  the  pavements  on  each 
side  of  the  street,  and  at  a  distance  of 
from  thirty  to  forty  feet  or  more  from 
the  cotton.  The  soldiers  were  passing 
to  and  fro,  alongside  of  the  bales,  ap- 
parently in  a  state  of  high  excitement, 
and  almost  frantic  with  joy;  all,  or  most 
of  them,  with  lighted  scgars  in  their 
mouths.  I  was  standing  nearly  mid- 
way between  the  two  corners,  watching 
their  movements,  when  on  a  sudden 
the  bale  at  the  market  end  took  fire, 
and  the  wind  being  quite  fresh,  the 
flames  increased  and  spread  with  fearful 
rapidity,  and  in  a  short  time  the  whole, 
or  at  least  the  greater  part,  was  in  a 
blaze.  The  fire  engines  of  the  city  were 
brought  to  the  spot  as  expcditiously  as 
possible  and  the  fire  was  extinguished 
in  the  course  of  an  hour.  It  was  evident 
that  it  originated  from  the  fire  of  the 
cigars,  falling  upon  the  loose  cotton. 
Indeed  there  was  no  other  way  of  ac- 
counting for  it;  and  another  thing  is  to 
be  noted,  that  neither  sparks  nor  flames 
were  extended  to  the  neighboring  build- 
ings and  no  damage  was  done  except  to 
the  cotton/'  I  will  continue  the  nara- 
tive  of  this  gentleman  as  it  runs  on  to 
the  events  of  the  night;  since  he  details 
clearly  the  circumstances  which  occur- 
red and  to  which  he  was  an  eye  witness. 
I  have  thus  fairly  shown  that  General 
Hampton  gave  no  such  order  to  fire 
the  cotton  as  Sherman  states,  nor  was 
its  burning  attributable  to  any  of  his 
men,  or  the  citizens;  but,  that  it  origi- 
nated from  the  acts  of  Sherman's  own 
men,  and  probably  from  the  very  ones 
who  had  be^n  detailed  for  the  purpose, 
and  felt  that  they  were  performing  an 
acceptable  service  to  their  General.  I 
will  also  state  here  a  part  of  a  conver- 
sation which  took  place  between  General 
Howard  and  Mr.  Shand  on  the  burning 
of  Columbia,  to  which  I  have  elsewhere 
alluded,  and  will  use  the  very  words 
spoken.  General  Howard  expressed 
his  regret  at  the  occurrence  and  added 
the  following  words  :  "Though  General 


Sherman  did  not  order  the  burning  of 
the  town,  yet  somehow  or  other  the  men 
had  taken  up  the  idea  that  if  they  des- 
troyed the  capital  of  South  Carolina,  it 
would  be  peculiarly  gratifying  to  Gener- 
al Sherman."  JMr.  Shaud  continues; 
"The  fire  was  wholly  put  out  by  one 
o'clock  P.  AL,  and  from  that  hour  until 
between  7  and  8  o'clock  P.  M.,  there  was 
no  other  fire  in  the  city,  and  the  burn- 
ing of  said  cotton,  therefore,  had  noth- 
ing to  do  with  the  subsequent  conflagra- 
tion and  destruction  of  the  town.  At  tho 
hour  last  inentioned  rockets,  were  seen 
to  ascend  and  immediately  thereafter  a 
fire  broke  out  in  a  central  portion  of  the 
city  near  the  market,  and  the  wind 
being  still  exceedingly  high,  it  soon  as- 
sumed alarming  proportions.  I  stood 
in  my  front  piazza  watching  it  with 
much  anxiety  and  though  inclined  at  first 
to  regard  its  origin  as  accidental,  I  was 
soon  undeceived.  The  fire  occurred,  as 
I  said,  in  a  central  part  of  the  city  and 
to  th*  north  of  my  residence,  but  I  had 
been  looking  upon  it  but  for  a  short 
time  when  I  noticed  fresh  flames  burst- 
ing out  in  the  east,  west  and  south,  at, 
points  very  distant  from  each  other  and 
not  possibly  caused  by  the  communica- 
tion of  flames  from  one  to  the  other. 
The  revelry  of  soldiers  in  the  streets  and 
their  shouts  and  exultation,  as  fresli 
rockets  went  up,  and  fresh  buildings 
took  fire,  scenes  which  to  some  extent 
came  under  my  own  observation,  added 
to  tho  awful  character  of  the  occasion 
and  gave  rise  to  the  painful  impression 
that  the  city  was  doomed  to  desolation 
and  ruin;  a  fact  which  was  admitted 
and  boasted  of  by  some  of  the  soldiers 
themselves.  By  midnight  the  whole 
city  presented  one  vast  sheet  of  flames, 
and  in  the  midst,  and  during  the  pro- 
gress of  the  appalling  calamity,  might 
be  heard  above  all  other  noises,  the 
demoniac  and  gladsome  shouts  of  the 
soldiery."  He  further  speaks  of  efforts 
made  to  burn  his  house,  their  success 
and  their  brutal  treatment  of  himself 
and  robbery  of  the  church  plate;  &c. 


17 


Let  us  follow  out  Sherman's  report. 
''Bales  were  piled  everywhere,  the  rope 
and  bagging  cut,"  (no  proof  of  any  such 
being  the  case,)  "and  tufts  of  cotton  were  j 
blown    about  in  the  wind,  lodged    in  I 
the  trees,  and  against  houses,  so  as  to  | 
resemble  a  snow  storm."     This  is  very  . 
poetical,  and  might  give  him  credit  for  | 
descriptive  powers,  but  it  is  too  fanci- 1 
ful,  and  moreover,  was  not  true ;  after  \ 
all,  it  is  but  a  sketch  of  the  imagina-  j 
tion.  That  cotton,  which  in  his  eye  was  | 
flying  about  in  flakes,  and  adorning  the  | 
houses  with   their  tufts,  was  so  soaked 
and   soddened,    that    it    did    not  even 
burn  from  the  heat  of  the  conflagration  1 
of  the  night,  and  remained  for  days  on  | 
the  ground,  until  it  was    incorporated 
with  it  "by    being  constantly  trodden 
under"  foot.     He   says    "the    fire  was  I 
partially  put  out  by  our  soldiers;"  so  far  | 
as     their    labor   was    concerned,    that 
might  be.     General  Sherman  entirely  | 
ignores    the    action    of  our   own    fire- 
men with  their  engines,  who  did  the 
work,  and  did  it  thoroughly.     It  never 
blazed  forth  again,  though  he   writes, 
that  "  Before  one  single  public  building 
had  been  fired  by  order,  the  smouldering 
fires  set  by  Hampton's  orders,  were  re- 
kindled by  the  wind^and  communicat- 
ed to  the  buildings  around." 

I  have  already  shown  that  Hampton 
gave  no  orders,  and  McKenzie  and 
Stork,  certify  that  the  fires  did  not 
again  kindle,  nor  was  a  house  ignited  by 
the  cotton — but  that  the  houses  contigu- 
ous to  it,  were  fired  in  the  rear,  by  Yan- 
kee soldiers,  who  were  seen  to  do  so  by 
most  credible  witnesses.  No  building 
was  fired  from  the  cotton,  nor  was  it 
possible  for  it  to  have  communicated 
with  the  first  house  in  flames  that 
night,  or  to  dozens  of  others  which 
shared  the  same  fate.  The  pile  of  cot- 
ton which  Sherman  saw,  and  to  which 
he  alludes,  was  in  Richardson  street, 
near  the  market;  was  extinguished  by  j 
1  o'clock,  and  never  again  ignited.  The 
first  fire  took  place  on  Gervais  or 
Briilge  street,  near  Gates  street,  and 


occurred  immeliately  after  the  firing  of 
the'  rockets.  Those  rockets  ^ere  con- 
sidered to  be  the  signal  for  destruction  ; 
which  was  anxiously  waited  for,  and 
promptly  attended  to.  The  houses  in 
Gervais  street,  were  the  first  fired  in  the 
city.  No  fire  had  occurred  after  1  o'clock 
p.  m.  Hampton's,  Wallace's,  Mrs. 
Stark's,  etc.,  burnt  early  in  the  after- 
noon ;  they  were  in  the  country,  and  two 
miles  from  the  cotton — a  fact  which  I 
beg  the  reader  to  bear  in  mind.  The 
house  on  Gervais  street  was  about  500 
yards  to  the  Southwest  of  the  cotton, 
and  a  hurricane  as  Cornyn  says,  was 
blowing.  The  wind  was  from  the 
Northwest.  Under  such  circumstances 
it  was  a  physical  impossibility,  for  fire 
to  have  been  communicated.  On  the 
contrary,  a  Yankee  was  seen  to  fire  it, 
as  well  as  others  adjoining.  The  next 
house  burnt,  was  that  of  Bates'  and 
Oliver's,  which  was  near  the  cotton.  No 
cotton  was  on  fire  then.  The  house 
was  fired  ia  the  rear,  in  Oliver's  shoe 
shop,  and  put  out-  by  a  negro  who  was 
in  charge  of  the  building.  The  Yan- 
kee soldier  ordered  him  to  desist  or  he 
would  beat  him.  He  then  fired  the  house 
completely,  and  was  seen  to  do  it  by 
several  citizens  who  testified  to  the  fact. 
The  next  building,  was  the  so-called 
public  property — the  Central  Bureau 
for  distri outing  clothing  to  the  soldiers 
who  were  in  want.  Phillips'  ware-house 
was  fired  about  the  same  time.  This 
was  a  block  to  the  North,  and  the 
flames  could  not  have  ignited,  as  they 
would  have  had  to  travel  against  the 
wind.  Then  followed  Bell's  house,  five 
squares  off  to  the  North,  and  East  of 
the  others.  These  premises  were  all 
scon  to  be  fired  by  Yankee  soldiers 
carrying  combustibles;  and  not  one  was 
so  observed,  until  after  the  signal  had 
been  given  ;  not  a  fire  occurred  from 
the  cotton,  Sherman's  assertion  to  the 
contrary,  notwithstanding.  After  these, 
fires  were  to  be  seen  blazing  in  every 
direction  in  ihc  town,  and  occurring  so 
rapidly  one  after  the  other,  as  to  leave 


18 


no  doubt  that,  it  was  a  simultaneous 
movement,  and  done  by  men  regularly 
instructed  as  to  their  duty.  I  could 
multiply  any  number  of  special  incidents 
to  prove  that  the  firing  was  systematic, 
and  consequently  ordered.  A  building, 
fire-proof  on  the  outside,  was  being 
fired  within  and  put  out,  when  the 
guard  told  the  owner  it  was  no  use  to 
struggle  against  it,  as  "his  house  was 
doomed  and  had  to  go."  Another, 
upon  removing  the  fire  brand  which  was 
put  between  his  floors,  was  told  "to  let 
it  alone;"  that  "the  damned  house  was  to 
burn — it  was  on  the  black  list."  "  About 
dark  the  fires  began  to  spread  and  got 
beyond  the  control  of  the  brigade  on 
duty  within  the  city."  That  is  true 
after  the  rockets  were  thrown  up — 
somewhere  about  eight  o'clock  at  night 
when  the  fires  spread  with  great  rapid- 
ity, but  no  effort  was  made  by  the  Yan- 
kees to  arrest  the  conflagration.  The 
engines  were  taken  from  their  captains, 
and  so  injured  as  to  be  useless.  The 
hose  was  cut,  as  testified  to  by  Captains 
Stanley  and  McKenzie  of  the  fire  com- 
panies of  the  city,  and  the  town  lay 
helpless  before  them  ;  but  not  a  move 
was  made  by  the  Yankees  to  check  the 
progress  of  the  flames  except  where  a 
house  was  burning  contiguous  to  \vhere 
their  officers  were  staying.  Then  it 
would  be  arrested.  Such  was  the  case 
with  Dr.  Leland's  residence.  It  was 
contiguous  to  Gen.  Sherman's  headquar- 
ters and  I  tbink  where  Col.  Stone  was 
stationed.  They  saved  that  house, 
while  that  of  a  widowed  lady,  Mrs.  Levy, 
was  permitted  to  burn  by  its  side — pro- 
bably because  the  destruction  of  Dr. 
Leland's  house  would  throw  the  officers 
out  of  comfortable  quarters.  Sherman 
says  "the  whole  of  Wood's  Division  was 
brought  in,  but  it  was  found  impossible 
to  check  the  flames  which  by  midnight 
had  be3ome  unmanageable  and  raged 
until  about  4  A.  M.,  when  the  wind  sub- 
siding, they  were  got  under  control." 
All  correct,  except  one  little  item,  viz: 
that  Wood's  division  was  not  called  in 


until  between  three  and  four,  and  they 
did  not  fail,  but  arrested  it  immediate- 
ly.    Gren.  Sherman  has  been  very   for- 
getful    of   hours    in    this    statement; 
Wood's  division  was   not  called  in  until 
morning,    and    their    being   called    in 
arose  from  a  little  incident  which  I  will 
presently  mention.     Conyngham   bears 
rne  out  in  the  assertion.     He  says  "this 
scene    continued   until   near   morning, 
and  then    the    town   was    cleared    out, 
when  there  was  nothing  more  to  pillage 
or    burn."     Sherman    says,  "I  was  up 
nearly  all  night,  and  saw  Jens.  Howard, 
|  Logan,   Wood  and  others,    laboring  to 
I  save   houses  etc."     I  do  not    question 
j  there  were  many  circumstances  calcula- 
ted to  render  Sherman's  rest  disturbed, 
but  why  he  and  Howard  and  Logan  and 
I  Wood  should  have   tried  to  save  houses 
I  rather  mystifies  me.     Sherman  had  or- 
|  dered  the  place    to  be  burnt — Howard 
I  was  carrying  it  out — Logan  was  in  favor 
!  of  the  measure,  and  after   he    had   left 
I  Columbia,  declared,  if  it  was  to  be  done 
again,  that  he  would  do  it  more  effectual- 
ly.    He  also    ordered    Preston's   house 
|  to  be  destroyed.     Wood,  it  would  seem, 
!  had  the  command  of   the   forces    about 
|  the  town  ;  and  the  Yankee  writer's  state, 
|  could  have  pfefJBted,  or  have  arrested 
!  it  at  any  time  had  he    thought  proper. 
I  That  Sherman  should  be  disturbed  was 
!  perhaps  natural;  he  was  not  quite  demon, 
I  and  the  act  he  had  just   authorized  was 
|  fiendish,  though    it  seem    to  give    him 
;  gratification.     His  officers  spoke   freely 
;  of  his  disregard  for  the  condition  of  the 
I  city,  and  declared    without    hesitation, 
j  that  he  could    have    prevented    it,  and 
j  could  then  (two  o'clock),  stop  it  by  call- 
i  ing  in  fresh  troops,  and  driving  out  the 
I  drunken  soldiers  who    were    disgracing 
I  the  army.     Between  three  and  four,  an 
1  incident  occurred,  which  led  to   his   or- 
!  dering  in    fresh   troops,    and    arresting 
!  the  conflagration.     Then,  and   not    till 
I  then,  was  Wood's  division  ordered  in. 
j  Eight  hours  after  the   time  he  stated  to 
i  the  Secretary  of  War  that  he  had  call- 
!  ed  them  in, — they  came  in,   turned  out 


19 


the  rioters,  and  removed  the  incendi- 
aries. The  incident  tended  much  to 
show  the  feelings  of  Sherman,  and  the 
course  that  he  had  been  pursuing. 
Whilst  wandering  about  the  city  and 
admiring  the  sublimity  of  the  terrible 
scene,  he  was  recognized  by  a  lady  and 
accosted.  She  pointed  out  to  him  the 
devastation  going  on  and  endeavored  to 
enlist  his  feelings,  by  showing  the  deso- 
lation that  must  follow,  and  the  misery 
that  must  overtake  so  many  homeless, 
destitute  families.  He  told  her  he  had 
nothing  to  do  with  it ;  that  he  had 
not  ordered  it;  that  it  was  her  own  peo- 
ple who  had  left  whiskey  in  their  way, 
and  given  it  to  the  soldiers.  She  re- 
plied,if  you  have  not  ordered  it,  common 
humanity  should  impel  you  to  arrest  it. 
He  replied,  he  could  not,  the  wind  was 
so  high.  She  then  said,  you  can  stop 
your  men  from  continuing  to  fire  it;  he 
denied  that  his  men  had  anything  to  do 
with  it  ;  said  it  was  our  own  fault. 
Whilst  making  this  denial,  a  servant 
came  up,  and  informed  her  mistress, 
that  a  man  was  then  setting  fire^to  the 
kitchen.  Sherman  asked  where,  she 
pointed  to  him,  aad  he  ordered  him 
shot.  The  guard  fired,  but  the  incendi- 
ary did  not  fall,  and  he  caught  him  and 
brought  him  to  Sherman  who  asked  if 
he  had  not  ordered  him  to  shoot  him. 
The  man  replied,  ?ou  did,  but  I  did  not 
think  you  meant  me  to  kill  him.  There 
it  stopped.  The  man  was  ordered  to 
the  guard  house.  He  was  only  perform- 
ing the  duty  assigned  him  ;  but  in  the 
wrong  place  and  time.  His  fellow  sol- 
dier koew  that  he  was  authorized  to  do 
what  he  was  then  doing,  and  so  told  his 
commander  that  he  did  not  think  he 
wanted  him  killed.  After  this  incident, 
Sherman  gave  orders  toCapt.  Andrews  to 
have  the  fire  arrested,  and  I  beg  the  read- 
er to  remark  the  words  tfiat  were  used.  I 
have  heard  the  circumstance  told  by  sev- 
eral who  knew  of  it,  and  from  those  who 
were  present,  and  all  used  the  same 
terms  of  expression.  Addressing  Capt. 
Andrews,  Sherman  said :  "This  thing 


has  gone  far  enough.     See  that  a  stop  is 
put  to  it;    take  Wood's  Division,  arid  I 
hold  you  and  them   responsible,  if  it  is 
not  arrested.''  Let  us  analyze  this  order. 
'•This  thing  has    gone    far    enough." 
Docs  not  that  imply,  that  he  was  aware 
of  what  was  going  on,  and  that   it   met 
with  his  sanction.     "See  that  a  stop  is 
put  to  it."     Does  not   that   imply  that 
he    knew   it   could   be   stopped?     "  I 
hold  you  and  them    responsible  if  it  is 
not   arrested."     Certainly    this    shows 
that  he  knew  it  was  under  his    control, 
!  and  all  the  statements    made  of  his  in- 
j  ability  to  stop  it,    and   his   regret,  &c., 
|  proved  to    have   been    merely  a  decep- 
tion.    Sherman  says,  that,  "about  dark 
the  fires  began  to  spread,  and  get  beyond 
the  control,  &c."     At  that   time  there 
was  not  a  fire    in  the  city,  nor  did  they 
begin  until  near  ci^ht  o'clock  after  the 
signal  rockets  had  Been  thrown  up,  and 
then  simultaneously  in  every   direction 
of  the  city,  the  houses  were  to  be  seen  iu 
a  blaze.     That    Sherman    ordered  the 
destruction  of  the  city,  his  soldiers  did 
not  hesitate  to  aver.       As  soon  as  they 
came  in,  they  stated  that  the  city  would 
be  .burned.     That  it  was  settled  on  the 
other  side  of  the  river  between   the  of- 
ficers and   themselves.     That  a   signal 
would   be  given,  and  then  the  citizens 
would   "see  hell."     General    Sherman 
I  says  he  disclaims    "on  the    part  of  my 
j  army,  any  agency  in   this    fire;"  but  on 
j  the  contrary,   claims,    that  "we    saved 
|  whatof  Columbia  remain  unconsumed." 
After  the  facts,  which   I    have  just 
stated,  I  think   it  will    be  difficult  for 
any  one  to  give  credit  to  the  disclaimer. 
But  as  to  the  saving  of  what  is  left  of 
Columbia  unconsurned,  there  is  no  ques- 
tion that  he  is  entitled    to  that   credit, 
for  after  the    signal   rockets,  and   until 
Wood's  Division  was  called  in,  between 
|  three  and  four  in  the  morning,  the  city 
I  was  burning  with  fearful  rapidity;  while 
!  after  the  order  was  given  to    Andrews, 
I  and  the  bugles  sourrd  called    the  incen- 
!  diaries  from  their  work    of  infamy,  all 
|  became  changed.  The  fire  was  arrested; 


no  more  houses    were  ignited;  and  the  j 
destruction  of  the  place  ceased.     Sher- 
man therefore  did  put  an    end   to    the 
fire,  and  certainly  saved,  by  his  order, 
''the    remnant    of   the    once  rich,  and 
flourishing     city."       But      subsequent 
events  tended  to  show  that  he  regretted 
his  fit  of  benevolence.     There   can  be 
but  little  doubt  that  there  was  an  inten- 
tion to  burn  the  balance  when  they  left; 
McGregor's    house    was  fired    at   four 
o'clock,"  P.M.,  on  Saturday.  Latta's  and 
English's    were    destroyed  on    Sunday. 
Preston's  house  was    ordered   for   the 
closing    scene   .on  Monday,    as  soon  as 
General  Logan  should  leave  ;    and  its 
destruction  was  only  prevented    by  an 
accidental  circumstance.   Major  Fitzgib- 
bon,  who  felt  interested  in  the  condition 
of  the  nuns,  called  on   and  asked  if  he 
could  assist   them.     They   stated   that 
they  had  Sherman's  promise  of  protec- 
tion.    He  inquired  if  it  was  in  writing; 
they  replied  no,  it  was   only   a   verbal 
promise.     He  urged    them    to  have    a 
written  one  and  offered   to    carry   their 
request  if  they  would    write  a   letter  to 
Sherman.     He  was  so  urgent,  and  as  he 
stated  that  the  night  would   be    one  of 
horrors,  that   they  wrote    to    General 
Sherman,  Fitzgibbon,  carried  the   note, 
and  brought  them  back   a   written  pro- 
tection, together  with  guards  for   their 
property.     His  language   indicated  his 
belief,  that  tho  destruction  of  the  city 
would  be    effected  that   night.     Sher- 
man's protection,    however,  did   not  as- 
sist   them.     Their    establishment   was 
destroyed,  and  they,  and  their  helpless 
charge  of  young  girls,  spent  the    night 
in  the  church  yard.  Some  ladies  seeing 
their  condition,    called    on     Sherman, 
represented  their  condition,  and   urged 
upon  him  to    render    them    assistance. 
He  called    in   the    morning,    saw    the 
Mother  Superior,  expressed  his  deep  re- 
gret at  their  loss,  and*troub!ed  condition, 
stated  that  it  arose  from  no  act   of   his, 
that    the    conflagration    resulted   from 
the  liquor  which  his  soldiers    had    ob- 
tained; that  they  had  become  intoxicat- 


ed and  unmanageable;  and  concluded 
by  offering  to  give  them  any  house  in 
Columbia  they  might  choose  to  select 
for  their  establishment. 

He  desired  his  Adjutant,  Col.  Charles 
Ewing  to  attend  to  their  wants  and  see 
that  they  were  made  comfortable.  That 
gentleman    called    often    acd    tried  to 
render  their   situation    more   pleasant, 
and  on  the  eve  of  his  departure,  he  in- 
troduced Captain  Cornyn,  the  Commis- 
sary, to  them,  who  was  to  arrange  with 
them  as  to  their  rations.    In  the  course 
of  the    conversation,  Ewing   reminded 
them  of  Gen.  Sherman's  offer   to  give 
them  any  house  they  would  select  and 
urged  them  accept  it;  they  replied  they 
i  had    thought   of  it,  and    would    select 
I  Gen.     Preston's    house   as    being    the 
largest    in  the    town.     Ewing    replied 
"that   is  where    Gen.  Logan  holds  his 
Headquarters;  and  that  house  is  ordered 
to  be  burned.     I  know    that  it  will  bo 
burned  to-morrow;  but,  if  you  will  say 
!  that   you  will    take  it,  I    will    sec  the 
|  General  (he  was  Sherman's  brother  in- 
law,)  and    get   the   order  counterman- 
i  ded."     On  the   next  morning,  Captain 
Cornyn  called  and   told  the  nuns   that 
!  the  army  was  moving  in  haste,  and  that 
j  General  Sherman    had    left   the    city 
i  about  four  in  the  morning.     They  ask- 
I  ed  if  he  could  tell    them    whether   the 
order  to  burn  the  house  had  been  coun- 
termanded, or  one    given    for  them  to 
take  possession.     He  could  not.    After 
|  many  inquiries,  they  found,  that    Gen. 
|  Perry^  had  the  command   of  the  place, 
j  and  that   his  orders    were  to  burn  the 
i  house  at  a    certain    hour,  unless    the}-, 
!  the  nuns  were  in    absolute    possession; 
|  but  he  sent  them  word,  if  but  a  part  of 
i  them  came   in,  he   would  spare  it   for 
i  their    sake.     Two  of  them  moved  in, 
5  and  found   the    fires  all    prepared,  and 
everything  in  read  in  ess^to  burn  or  blow 
up    the    building.     The    negroes   were 
moving  out  the  bedding,  blankets,  &c., 
before  it   should  be   destroyed.     Here 
then  is  rather  positive   proof  that  Gen. 
Sherman  paid  no  respect  to  his  pledge 


v 


21 


concerning  private  property.  He  had 
pledged  himself  to  the  Mayor  that  per- 
son and  property  should  be  respected,  but 
here,two  days  after  they  had  held  the  city, 
without  any  reason  that  could  be  assign- 
ed, he  orders  a  large  and  costly  house  to 
be  burnt,  simply  because  he  had  the  pow- 
er to  show  his  authority  and  vent  his 
spleen.  Other  houses  were  burnt  at  the 
time  that  was  ordered  to  be  destroyed, 
and  we  have  reason,  therefore,  to  sup- 
pose that  the  man  who  ordered  the 
one,  had  also  given  directions  for  the 
other. 

It  will  be  seen  above  that  Sherman 
stated  to  the  nuns  that  his  army  was  un- 
der the  influence  of  liquor,  and  demor- 
alized. Such  was  not  the  fact.  The 
discipline  was  perfect,  and  the  obedience 
of  the  army  to  the  officers  exemplary. 
They  never  were  free  from  his  control; 
never  interferred  with  each  other,  and 
when  taken  in  hand,  that  discipline  was 
exemplified  in  their  prompt  attention  to 
the  orders  given  to  Andrews.  Their 
discipline  was  never  relaxed,  but  certain 
men  were  freed  from  it  for  special  pur- 
poses, etc.,  and  it  was  this  freedom  that 
enabled  them  to  commit  with  impunity 
all  the  atrocities  of  the  night;  saved 
them  from  the  .patrol,  as  Conyngham 
states,  and  enabled  John  Hays,  of  Kil- 
patrick's  cavalry,  to  go  into  the  country 
and  burn  Hampton's  establishment. 
This  man  stopped  at  a  house  to  enquire 
the  way,  stated  his  reasons  for  wanting 
to  know,  and  remarked  that  it  was  his 
ambition  and  the  dearest  wish  of  his 
heart  to  burn  Hampton's  home.  On  his 
return,  he  called  and  told  the  ladies,  he 
had  effected  his  purpose.  It  was  this 
freedom  that  enabled  them  to  burn  up 
Wallace's,  Stark's  and  Trenholm's  resi- 
dences. We  presume  that  Millwood, 
Woodlands  and  Trenholm's  Mills  and 
quarters — places  burnt  two  days  after 
the  general  conflagration — were  also  de- 
stroyed by  special  order. 

But  leaving  the  city  now  to  repose 
in  its  ashes,  let  us  follow  Sherman  in 
his  career  through  the  country.  From 


Columbia  to  Blackstocks,  there  was 
scarcely  a  dwelling  left.  Horses,  barns, 
ricks,  shanties,  fences,  ploughs,  all 
shared  the  same  fate,  while  the  carcases 
of  horses,  mules,  cows,  hogs,  sheep, 
strewed  the  earth  ;  killed  in  the  most 
barbaric  wafitonness  of  power.  Sher- 
man's advent  to  Winnsboro,  ended  in 
its  destruction,  but  in  his  report  to  the 
Government,  he  docs  not  allude  to  its 
being  burnt.  Thereby,  perhaps,  hangs 
a  tale.  The  why  and  how  might  have 
been  demanded,  and  perhaps  he  doubt- 
ed whether  Slocuin  would  be  civil 
enough  to  let  him  account  for  it  in  his 
own  manner.  It  is  certain  that  whilst 
Slocum  held  it,  it  suffered  no  detri- 
ment. He  had  pledged  'himself  that  it 
should  be  protected.  It  is  equally  cer- 
tain that  after  Sherman  arrived  there, 
a  considerable  part  of  it  was  burnt,  and 
not  by  Slocum's  order. 

In  concluding  his  account  of  the 
burning  of  Columbia,  he  reiterates  his 
assertion  that  it  had  been  done  by 
Hampton,  and  then  goes  on  to  laud  his 
officers  and  men  for  their  efforts  to  save 
the  city.  He  speaks  of  those  on  duty, 
working  "well  to  extinguish  the  flames," 
but  whilst  the  army,  with  its  loft  hand, 
are  making  a  show  of  effort,  with  its 
right  he  acknowledges  that  it  was  scat- 
tering destruction.  "Others,  not  on 
duty,  including  the  officers  who  had 
long  been  imprisoned,  rescued  by  us, 
may  have  assisted  in  spreading  the  fire 
after  it  had  once  begun,  and  may  have 
indulged  in  unconcealed  joy  to  see  the 
ruin  of  the  Capitol  of  South  Carolina." 

Let  me  now  review  the  assertions 
of  the  men  and  officers  as  to  their  orders 
and  intentions  when  they  entered  Col- 
umbia. We  have  become  acquainted 
with  their  object  and  views  on  their 
route  to  the  city.  We  have  seen  the 
woods  on  fire  and  the  houses  in  flames, 
to 'light  them  on  their  way,  the  cattle 
killed  and  the  property  stolen.  Th^ 
more  dark  and  hidden  deeds  they  have 
thrown  a  veil  over,  but  let  us  see  what 
was  the  fate  destined  for  Columbia. 


The  llev.  Wm.  Yates  states  :  "I  was  in 
the  yard  when  that  fatal  rocket  went 
up  and  one  of  the  men  exclaimed  '-now 
you  will  see  hell.;;  I  asked  him  what 
it  meant,  and  his  reply  was:  "That  is  the  j 
signed  for  a  general  setting  of  fire  to  the  j 
city"  and  iui mediately  after,  numbers 
of  fires  could  be  seen  in  every  direction." 
This  was  at  Gen  Blair's  headquarters 
and  from  one  of  his  men.  Mr.  Shand 
saw  them  attempt  to  fire  one  of  his  out 
houses,  and  saw  them  destroy  the 
cotton.  Mr.  Oliver  saw  them  set  fire  to 
Mrs.  Law's  house,  turn  Mr.  Reckling's 
wife  and  child  out  of  his  home,  and 
fire  it,  and  also  witnessed  their  firing 
the  cotton.  Alderman  Stork  saw  them 
fire  the  cotton  in  the  street  and  also 
witnessed  the  destruction  of  Bates'  and 
Oliver's  house.  They  told  Captain 
Stanley  that  they  would  "give  them 
Hell  to  night;"  that  they  would 
burn  the  city,  and  that  the  arrange- 
ments were  all  made  over  the 
river  before  they  came  in.  Capt.  S., 
was  the  captain  of  one  of  the  fire  com- 
panies, and  whilst  working  at  the  fire 
in  the  rear  of  the  Commercial  Bank, 
fifteen  or  twenty  armed  soldiers  forcibly 
took  possession  of  the  hose,  stuck 
their  bayonets  into  them,  carried  off  the 
pipes,  and  beat  in  the  air  vessel  of  the 
engine.  He  saw  soldiers  set  fire  to  the 
Mutual  supply  association  store.  Capt. 
Pratt  who  came  in  with  the  mayor  and 
Col.  Stone,  told  Alderman  McKenzie, 
who  showed  him  some  cotton,  that  he 
wished  he  had  burnt  it  and  saved  them 
the  trouble  as  they  "never  left  any  of 
that/'  Mr.  McKenzie  as  captain  of  one 
of  the  fire  companies  worked  at  the 
.burning  cotton  about  half  past  eleven, 
and  continued  to  do  so,  until  it  was  com- 
pletely extinguished.  He  also  assisted 
in  arresting  the  fire  at  the  jail,  which 
he  thinks  was  'fired  by  one  of  the  in- 
mates. His  firm  conviction  is,  that  the 
^ity  was  fired  by  Sherman's  men  and 
through  his  directions.  Mr.  Bedell 
states  that  the  Yankees  set  fire  to  his 
dwelling  housr>,  and  that  all  he  could 


do,  could  not  prevent  them  from  effect- 
ing their  purpose  of  burning  it.  -Mrs. 
McDonald  saw  the  Yankee  soldiers 
break  open  Mr.  Pelham's  door  and  fire 
his  house;  Mrs.  Squiers  saw  the  team- 
sters set  fire  to  the  cotton  opposite  De- 
Sausure's ;  she  and  her  family  put  it  out ; 
that  was  about  half  past  five  in  the  after- 
noon. She  saw  the  rockets  go  up,  and 
immediately  after,  fires  were  to  be  seen 
in  every  direction.  She  confirms  what 
others  state,  that  Bates  and  Oliver's  es- 
tablishments were  fired  in  the  rear,  and, 
therefore,  from  those  houses,  spread  to 
the  opposite  side  of  the  street.  Her 
own  house  was  fired  by  cotton  steep- 
ed in  turpentine,  placed  on  rods  and 
and  put  upon  the  roof.  Mrs.  Friede- 
beres  house  and  DeSausure's  were  all 
fired  about  the  same  time.  Mr.  Altee 
says  he  saw  the  Yankee  soldiers  going 
about  and  firing  the  houses  on  Bridge 
street  and  near  his  own — they  twic^ 
fired  his,  but  he  was  fortunate  enough 
to  get  it  extinguished.  In  one  case, 
it  is  probable  that  the  enemy  would  have 
added  murder  to  their  other  crimes.  A 
sergeant  and  three  privates  went  to  the 
residence  of  F.  Cr.  do  Fontaine,  Esq., 
the  editor  of  the  Daily  South  Carolinian, 
and  demanded  of  the  sprvants  where  he 
was  to  be  found.  The  latter  being  un- 
able to  give  the  information,  one  of  the 
men  replied — Damn  him,  its  well  for 
him  that  he  isn't  here,  for  we'd  burn 
him  in  his  den.  Then,  after  ransacking 
the  library,  papers,  etc.,  with  a  lighted 
candle  they  ignited  the  wood  work  on 
the  place  and  left  it  to  burn.  Subse- 
quently two  Federal  soldiers  were  found 
burned  to  death  among  the  ruins  of  the 
South  Carolinian  office,  in  another  part 
of  the  city.  Mr.  Pelham,  the  editor  of 
Guardian,  was  likewise  threatened  with 
death  in  case  of  capture.  I  need  quote 
no  more.  I  deem  this  sufficient  to 
prove  that  the  Yankee  soldiers  fired  the 
cotton  and  the  houses.  Now  let  us  sec 
what  they  declared  to  be  their  intentions. 
Hundreds  of  them  said  to  others  as  was 
said  to  Stanley,  that  they  were  at  liber- 


23 


ty  to  do  as  they  pleased  in  the  town, 
and  intended  to  burn  it  to  the  ground. 
Two  officers,  one  of  the  15th,  and  the 
other  of  the  17th  corps,  stated,  that 
"they  and  the  soldiers  wgn'e  at  liberty  to 
do  whatever  they  pleased  ;  the  only  re- 
striction was  not  to  injure  the  women 
and  children."  Mrs.  Thompson  states 
that  her  guard  told  her  that  before 
morning  there  would  be  no  need  of  a 
guard  for  her  property  as  it  would  be 
all  gone.  A  captain  from  Ohio,  asked 
her,  why  she  had  stayed  in  Columbia  ; 
said  uit  was  a  doomed  city;  that  Sher- 
man had  given  orders  to  his  troops  upon 
crossing  the  river,  that  they  were  first 
to  sack  the  city,  and  then  burn  it  when 
the  signal  should  be. given  viz:  three 
rockets."  Mr.  Thompson  states  that 
he  "Was  a  member  of  the  fire  company  ; 
that  there  was  no  fire  in  the  town  when 
Stone  came  in;  that  the  fires  commenced 
after  the  signals,  and  that  the  soldiers 
told  him  they  "always  meant  to  burn 
it."  Lieut.  McCroney  when  canvcrsiug 
with  Mr.  Harris  expressed  great  admi- 
ration of  Sherman,  and  remarked  that 
"he  would  soon  bring  the  war  to  a  termi- 
nation ;  that  his  policy  was  to  destroy 
everything  by  fire  and  sword  in  his  line 
of  inarch,  and  especially  Columbia,  which 
he  had  determined  on  long  before  he 
marched  here."  A  gentleman  of  Col- 
umbia called  upon  Sherman  on  the  night 
of  t he-fire  to  get  a  guard  for  the  protec- 
tion of  his  family  and  house  which  was 
much  exposed.  '  Ho  could  not  see 
Sherman,  but  met  with  Capt.  Merrill, 
who  told  him  that  Sherman  had 
given  orders  to  admit  no  one,  and 
that  his  seeing  him  would  make  no 
difference,  for,  "Sherman  did  not  care  a 
damn  if  the  whole  city'  was  in  ashes." 
I  will  now  bring  this  article  to  a  close, 
after  making  a  few  remarks  on  the  burn- 
ing of  the  gas  works  by  Gen.  Howard 
under,  I  may  say,  the  express  orders  of 
Gen.  Sherman,  fo*r  such  it  had  every  ap- 
pearance to  have  been.  Mr.Jas.G.Gibbes 
heard  that  the  gas  works  were  to  be 
burnt.  As  this  was  altogether  private  pro- 


perty, could  have  no  bearing  on  the  con- 
duct of  the  war  and  was  not  a  building 
useful  in  war  to  an  enemy;  as  Gen. 
Sherman  had  promised  protection  to  all 
private  property — colleges,  school^, 
harmless  houses  etc.,  it  was  thought  that 
such  an  establishment  ought  not  to  be 
injured,  and  that  having  deprived  the 
citizens  of  their  arms,  wood,  water 
provisions  and  every  means  of  procur- 
ing thgm  by  the  burning  of  all  the  mills, 
and  the  stealing  of  all  the  wagons  and 
horses,  they  might  at  least  have  light 
spared  to  them,  to  enable  them  to  take 
care  of  their  children  who  had  been  so 
cru?lly  thrown  out  of  their  homes,  and 
deprived  of  every  necessary.  This  gen- 
tleman hearing  that  Gen  Howard  had 
the  ordering  of  its  destruction  went  to 
him,  and  remonstrated  with  him  upon 
the  cruelty  of  such  a  measure;  depicted 
the  distress  it  would  occasion,  and  the 
utter  wantonness  of  destroying  such  a 
building.  Howard  replied,  that  he  saw 
DO  reason  why  that  should  not  be  burnt 
as  well  as  the  other  buildings.  He  was 
then  requested  to  postpone  its  "firing 
until  Sherman  could  be  appealed  to  ;  he 
told  him  he  would  see  Shermaif  himself ; 
the  gentleman  asked  permission  to  go 
with  him,  as  he  Gen.  H.,  being  in  favor 
of  burning,  he  would  not  be  likely  to 
prove  a  warm  advoc-ate  ;  he  declined  per- 
mission, but  said  he  would  see 
Sherman  and  try  and  get  the  order  coun- 
termanded. After  such  a  promise  we  pre- 
sume he  did  call  on  Sherman  and  en- 
deavor to  change  his  determination. 
The  gas  works  were  however  burnt,  and 
we  have  a  right  to  presume  that  Sherman 
gave  the  order  for  their  destruction, 
and  refused  to  countermand  it.  He 
therefore  violated  his  pledge  of  protec- 
tion to  the  citizen  and  his  property,  and 
committed  an  act  of  as  wanton  destruc- 
tion as  ever  was  done  by  man.  The 
burning  of  those  works,  the  order  to  burn 
Preston's  house,  the  destruction  of  Mrs. 
English's,  Latta's,  and  hosts  of  other 
houses  and  the  utter  devastation  of  the 
whole  country  from  Columbia  to  North 


24 


Carolina,  makes  him  one  of  the  most 
ruthless  invaders  that  ever  cursed  the 
earth  by  his  presence.  Attila  or  Alaric 
shrink  into  insignificance  when  com- 
pared with  him;  and  Nichols  was  right 
in  saying  "that  you  will  in  vain  search 
history  for  a  parallel  to  the  scathing 
and  destructive  effect  of  the  invasion  of 
the  Carolinas."  I  have  elsewhere  shown 
that  neither  Sherman  nor  any  of  his 
officers  had  attributed  the  burning  of 
the  city  to  aught  else  than  the  inebria- 
tion of  the  soldiers;  and  up  to  the  4th 
of  April,  the  date  of  his  report  to  the 
Secretary  of  War,  no  accusation  had 
been  made  against  Hampton.  That 
the  charge  then  brought  forward  was 
an  after  thought,  all  the  antecedents 
tend  to  prove.  He  spoke  of  the  burn- 
ing as  arising  from  the  intoxication  of 
his  men — yet  on  his  route  through  the 
country,  after  leaving  Columbia,  he 
carried  ouj;  the  system  he  commenced 
at  the  bridges  below,  and  kfi^tup  during 
his  march  to  the  capital.  In  his  letter 
to  Wheeler,  he  avows  his  intention  to 
burn  all  the  cotton,  and  also  his  utter 
disregard  as  to  what  became  of  the 
dwelling*  of  the  planters.  To  talk  of 
empty  houses  was  ridiculous;  from 
necessity,  those  houcs  could  have  no 
occupants,  though  the  furniture  and 
slaves  evidenced  their  being  cared  for, 
and  in  fact  inhabited.  In  his  letter  to 
Hampton  of  the  27th  of  February, 
relative  to  the  prisoners  being  shot, 
&c.,  he  makes  no  allusion  to  Columbia; 
and  when  Hampton  replied,  denying 
all  knowledge  of  any  prisoners  who 
were  shot  after  having  been  taken,  he 
charges  Sherman  with  having  burned 
the  city  of  Columbia  after  ho  had 
peaceable  possession  of  it,  and  of  other 
matters  contrary  to  theusa^e  of  civilized 
nations.  To  this  charge,  Gen.  Sherman 
never  replied.  At  that  time  he,  the 
great  conqueror,  never  dreamed  of 
being  assailed;  but,  to  his  astonish- 
ment, he  found  the  reverse.  At  that 
time  he  rather  looked  upon  the  burning 
of  Columbia  as  the  crowning  act  of  his 


glory,  and  for  the  destruction  of  our 
capital  he  expected  something  like 
deification ;  nor  did  he  awake  from  his 
delusion  until  the  rude  act  of  the  Sec- 
retary of  Waj1  aroused  him  from  his 
reverie,  and  he  began  to  think  that  he 
had  carried  his  desire  of  vengeance  too 
far,  and  it  would  be  advisable  that 
some  cause  should  be  shown  to  Govern- 
ment why  such  an  atrocity  had  been 
perpetrated.  It  was  then  he  thought 
of  the  order  he  had  seen,  made 
his  arrangements  accordingly,  and  be- 
came satisfied  that  the  city  was  fully  on 
fire  before  he  gave  the  order  to  burn  it 
down  through  the  destruction  of  the 
public  buildings.  Posterity  will  not 
be  as  blind  as  the  present  race;  their 
passions  will  not  be  excited,  and  they 
will  acknowledge  that  Carolina  fought, 
and  nobly  fought,  for  a  right  that  she 
and  all  the  States  were  entitled  to,  and 
had  ever  claimed;  and  that,  in  the 
infamous  desire  to  crush  out  her  love 
of  liberty  and  State  sovereignty,  a 
tiger  had  been  unchained,  who  had  rev- 
elled in  blood  and  destruction,  and  still 
continued,  and  probably  would  rule  until 
nothing  was  left  of  liberty  or  civil  rights 
to  the  consolidated  but  enslaved  nation. 

I  have  now  done  with  General  Sher- 
man. I  trust  that  I  have  answered 
Conyngham's  question  which  I  set  out  to 
do;  that  I  have  removed  the  slander 
attempted  to  be  cast  on  Gen.  Hampton 
by  Sherman  and  his  satellites;  proved 
that  Tecumsch  Sherman  was  the  in- 
cendiary, and  he,  and  he  alone,  is  re- 
sponsible for  the  terrible  destruction  that 
has  been  occasioned,  and  the  retarding 
of  prosperity  for  the  next  fifty  years.  To 
his  God  I  now  leave  the  miserable 
wretch,  in  the  full  belief  that  he  will 
meet  with  such  punishment  as  his  atro- 
cious acts  have  merited. 

Having  finished  with  Gen.  Sherman 
and  his  fetes  of  arson,  let  me  turn 
to  a  few  remarks  of  Major  Nichols,  in 
which,  contrary  to  good  taste,  as  well  as 
civility  aud  truth,  he  attempts  to  libel 
the  character  of  the  Carolinians.  Let 


25 


me  review  the  statements  and  the  com- 
ments he  has  ventured  to  indulge  in- 
and  I  think  they  will  tend  fully  to  por- 
tray not  only  a  vile  animus,  but  a  mis- 
erable baseness  of  mind.  I  cannot  leave 
the  subject  without  exhibiting  some  of 
his  wondrous  qualities  and  gifts. 

A  portion  of  what  he  narrates,  he  has 
seen  and  heard.  But  when  he  gives 
such  a  description  of  Hampton,  as  he  has 
done  on  page  311,  we  are  compelled 
to  say  that  he  was  not  acquainted  with 
the  man.  Of  all  persons  whom  I  have 
ever  known,  and  I  have  known  him 
since  infancy,  he  is  the  most  uniform 
and  imperturbable  in  his  temper.  No 
one  ever  saw  him  give  way  to  passion  ; 
his  face  is  one  of  remarkable  quietude 
and  repose,  and  he  is  rather  reticent 
than  otherwise.  In  his  manner  there  is 
a  calmness  and  severity  that  strikes  every 
one  as  the  predominant  characteristic, 
and  a  cheerful  beaming  of  the  eye  that 
makes  the  countenance  agreeable.  You 
may  see  determination  to  do  what  he  con- 
siders a  duty ;  but  you  need  never  ex- 
pect to  see  restless  anxiety  or  fuss.  He 
is  the  last  being  to  whom  we  should 
have  expected  such  terms  to  be  applied 
as  "fanfaronade,"  etc.  Nichols  certainly 
made  a  mistake  here,  an,d  had  his  friend 
Kilpatrick  in  his  mind  when  he  drew 
that  picture.  He  must  have  recollected 
the  appearance  of  that  officer  as  Bom- 
bastes  Furioso,  challenging  Wheeler  out 
to  fight,  and  imagined  that  he  saw  "le 
petit  General,"  with  a  flag  in  his  hand, 
calling  over  to  Wheeler's  men,  in  sten- 
torian voice,  "come  out  now,  you  set  of 
cowardly  skunks;  you  claim  that  you 
whip  Kilpatrick  every  time,  come  out 
now  and  try  it;  and  I'll  not  leave  enough, 
of  you  to  thrash  a  corporal's  guard.  I 
am  Kill  himself."  We  almost  looked 
for  the  boots  and  the  well-known  distich 
and  supposed  they  might  have  been 
hung  up,  if  they  had  not  been  lost  in 
some  of  his  hurried  movements ;  such 
as  occurred  when  surprised  by  Hamp- 
ton, and  in  dishabille,  he  ran  for  the 
woods,  leaving  his  mulatto  doxy  to  follow 


as  she  could.  There  are  several  other 
remarks  of  Nichol's  that  ought  to  be  no- 
ticed. Several  soldiers  were  found  on  the 
road-side,  who  had  been  killed,  either 
by  the  citizens  or  by  Confederate  sol- 
diers. They  belonged  to  a  gang  who 
had  been  firing  and  pillaging  the  coun- 
try in  every  direction,  and  simply  met 
he  fate  they  deserved.  The  virtuous 
indignation  of  the  Generals  is  aroused 
and  Sherman  gives  Kilpatrick  orders 
to  hang  and  shoot  prisoners  who  fall 
into  his  hands,  to  any  extent  he  con- 
siders necessary.  Nicholas  fired  on  the 
occasion,  calls  out:  "Shame  on  Beau- 
regard  and  Hampton  and  Butler,"  and 
asks,  "Has  the  blood  of  their  father's 
become  so  corrupted,  that  the  sons  are 
cowardly  assassins.  If  this  murderous 
game  is  continued  by  their  friends,  they 
will  bitterly  rue  the  day  it  was  begun/' 
Without  knowing  why  or  wherefore 
those  men  were  punished,  an  order  is 
given  for  the  hanging  of  the  prisoners, 
though  Sherman,  when  alluding  to  the 
circumstance,  acknowledges  that  his  for- 
agers committed  many  acts  of  atrocity. 
To  the  question  as  to  the  corruption  of 
the  blood  of  the  father's  leaving  the  sons 
assassins,  I  have  only  to  say,  if  Nichol's 
wishes  an  answer,  ,he  nead  only  ask  tho 
question  personally,  and  he  can  test  the 
condition  of  consanguinity.  Men  who 
have  been  employed  in  burning  up  the 
country,  robbing  the  houses  and  turning 
out  the  families,  to  burn  their  dwellings, 
are  to  pass  unmolested,  because  they 
wear  the  blue  uniform  of  Sherman's 
thieves ;  but  when  a  rebel  soldier  fires 
on  one  of  their  officers,  although  as  he 
states,  the  poor  wretch  harmed  no  one, 
he  was  hanged  at  once  for  his  attempted 
assassination;  a  fit  commentary  upon  the 
statement  made  above. 

A  generous  enemy  would  abstain  from 
abusing  his  opponent,  when  no  longer 
in  the  field.  An  officer  of  sense  may, 
from  want  of  tact,  grandeurize  himself 
and  army,  but  would  abstain  from  depre- 
ciating his  antagonist.  The  pussillan- 
imity  of  the  foe  necessarily  detracts  from 


.26 


the  prowess  of  the  conquerer,  and  he  who 
would  boast  of  a  victory  gained  over 
decrepid  old  age  or  staggering  infancy; 
would  deem  himself  heroic  in  'overcom- 
ing the  coward  and  the  driveller.  For 
his  army's  sake,  for  his  own  share  in  the 
glorious  victory  icon  l>y  sixty-eight  thous- 
and men  over  fifteen  thousand,  he  should 
not  sneer  at  the  conquered,  but  to  en- 
hance his  own  merit,  should  make  the 
Carolinians  very  paladins;  the  Cids  of 
this  century,  who  fought  and  defended 
every  inch  of  their  ground  with  the  skill 
and  stubbornness  of  a  Massena.  Let  me 
turn  to  one  of  the  sentences  in  which 
he  has  vented  his  spleen  and  exhibited 
his  folly.  There  are  many  of  the  same 
kind  to  be  found  in  his  work.  "A 
characteristic  of  South  Carolina  chivalry 
has  impressed  itself  upon  all  of  us  since 
we  entered  the  State,  and  had  a  marked 
illustration  last  night  and  this  morning. 
I  refer  to  a  whining,  helpless,  craven 
spirit,  which  shows  itself  whenever  any 
of  these  people  get  hurt/7  "These  fel- 
lows who  were  to  die  in  the  last  ditch  ; 
who  would  welcome  us  with  bloody 
hands  to  hospitable  graves,  are  more 
cowardly  than  children,  and  whine  like 
whipped  school -boys.  Ridiculously* 
helpless,  they  sit  and  groan,  without 
making  an  effort  to  help  themselves." 
That  statement  is  as  false  as  ever  was 
penned  by  a  Yankee,  and  not  a  man, 
woman,  or  child  six  years  old,  but  would 
pronounce  the  writer  of  such  a  para- 
graph, a  miserable  dastard,  unused  to  the 
society  of  gentlemen,  and  incapable  of 
appreciating  what  belongs  to  the  class. 
The  incident  that  he  has  mentioned  of 
the  Palmetto  tree,"  ought  to  have  made 
him  blush,  whilst  he  was  writing  such 
a  slander.  That  tree  was  respected-even 
by  the  rude  soldier;  and  why  ?  Because 
it  recorded  the  names  of  men  who  had 
been  engaged  in  the  Mexican  war,  and 
brought  back  with  them  a  character  sur- 
passed by  none  other;  because  they  knew 
that  that  Regiment  saved  the  honor  of 
the  army,  when  the  troops  of  New  York 
and  Pennsylvania  driven  back,  exhibited 


their  terror  to  the  enemy.  They  could 
not  advance  on  Chepultepec,  but  the 
Palmetto  Regiment,  though  decimated 
in  the  previous  fight,  advanced  against 
the  enemy,  supported  the  retreating 
forces  of  New  York  and  Pensylvania, 
allowed  them  to  regain  their  morale, 
and  enabled  Scott  to  dictate  his  terms 
from  the  halls  of  Montezuma.  Their 
sons  and  relatives  have  met  the  Yan- 
kees time  after  time  in  battle,  and  never 
given  back  one  inch,  with  any  thing  of 
equal  numbers.  That  they  have  not 
degenerated,  let  Bull  Run,  Seven 
Pines,  Mechanicsville,  Coal  Harbor, 
and  a  host  of  other  places,  testify. 
Not  merely  in  these  places,  but  you  can 
scarce  mention  a  battle  which  has  been 
fought,  in  which  the  blood  of  Carolina 
has  not  freely  flowed.  They  beat  you 
at  Eton,  the  last  battle  in  Carolina, 
when  Butler  drove  back  your  forces. 
They  fought  you  to  the  last.  * 

Turn  to  the  siege  of  Charleston — to 
Secessionville,  and  say  whether  any 
evidence  of  a  craven  was  spirit  there; 
or  whether  within  the  walls  of  Sumter, 
the  whining  of  the  whipped  school-boy 
has  been  heard.  The  siege  of  that  fort 
should  have  taught  you  to  have  used 
more  truthful  language.  For  more  than 
a  year,  with  your  immense  force,  you 
tried  to  get  possession  of  that  one  for- 
tress and  constantly  failed.  With 
your  immense  naval  armament  and  land 
forces,  you  day  by  day,  rained  your  iron 
balls  and  shells  upon  that  devote.d  place, 
but  she  succumbed  not;  you  beat  down 
her  walls,  until  she  became  a  mass  of 
ruins,  yet  still  she  defied  you ;  and  when 
her  upper  tiers  were  silenced  and  she 
could  no  longer  return  your  fire  with  her 
cannon,  her  note  of  defiance  was  still 
heard  in  the  booming  sound  of  the  morn- 
ing and  evening  gun.  Twice  you  at- 
temped  to  scale  her  battered  walls,  aud 
twice  she  hurled  your  forces  back,  brok- 
en and  discomfittcd ;  and  yet  you  talk 
about  the  craven  spirit  of  South  Caroli- 
nian chivalry,  as  an  object  of  the  utmost 
disgust  and  contempt  of  the  Northern 


27 


officer    and   soldier.      The   expression 
was  as  false  as  it  was  anxiously  desired 
to  be,  and  in  your  heart  you  knew  it  to 
be  a.  falsehood.     You  at  last  obtained 
the  old  fort;  but  how?     Not  by  gallant 
conquest,  but  her  own  voluntary  surren- 
der.    She  could  fight  no  more  and  the 
very  flag  which  you  have   hoisted  in 
triumph  over  her  battlement,  but  reads 
you   a   lesson  of  disgrace.     The  stars 
and  stripes  that  now  flaunt  over  her  bat- 
tlements, tell  you  of   a  flag  that  had 
been  struck  after  three  days  contest,  and 
of  others  that  were  arrayed  against  it  for 
over  five  hundred  days,  yet  could  never 
fora  moment  be  planted  on  her  soil.   And 
the  morning  gun  but  recalls  the  recollec- 
tion of  that  protracted  struggle  and  mis- 
erable failure.     The  assertion  was  false. 
No  craven  spirit  was  seen  in  the  State  ; 
you  heard  no  whining  entreaties.     They 
acknowledged  themselves  overpowered 
by  your  numbers,  but  not  subdued  by 
your  bravery.     They  submitted  to  a  ne- 
cessity forced  upon  them,  and  made  gal- 
ling in  the  extreme  by  the  grossierics  of 
of  the  victors.     So  far  and  no  farther 
do   they  acknowledge.     They  still  be- 
lieve they  were  right,  but  like  many 
others,  similarly    situated,    they    have 
yielded  to  the  necessity  of  their  position. 
Thfey  agreed  to  remain  quiet,  but  they" 
did  not  bargain  for  abuse  from  the  igno- 
rant and  the  vulgar.     The  force  opposed 
to  them  was   overwhelming,  and  their 
not  being  able  to  oppose,  reflected  neith- 
er disgrace   nor  dishonor.     By  Major 
Barry's  account,  Sherman  had  68,000 
efl'ective  muskets,  besides  cavalry,  etc., 
and  Nichol's  himself  boasts  that  the  foot- 
steps of  100,000  abolitionists  had  press- 
ed the  sacred  soil  and  broken  down  our 


spirits.  To  such  a  force  was  opposed  tho 
troops  of  Hardee,  and  the  few  men  gath- 
ered together  in  a  hurry  and  concentra- 
ted about  Columbia — the  aged  and  the 
boys;  in  all,  not  equal  to  the  number 
that  Sherman  had  in  any  one  of  his  three 
Divisions,  and  12,000  of  these  in  Charles- 
ton, useless  to  tho  cause.  Under  such 
circumstances,  they  met  and  fought  you 
and  retarded  your  movements.  To  charge 
a  people  with  cowardice  for  not  beating 
back  such  hordes,  could  only  have  been 
made  by  a  brutal  mind,  regardless  of  all 
the  amenities  of  civilization.  Let  us  see, 
if  when  he  penned  those  lines,  he  believ- 
ed in  their  truth.  Had  he  forgotten  his 
statement  that  "the  rebels  successfully 
defended  their  strong  line  of  works  on 
the  north  side  of  the  Congaree  creek, 
until  about  four  o'clock  this  afternoon." 
"Our  attempts  to  cross  the  river  below, 
have  met  with  earnest  opposition."  "I 
never  saw  more  spirited  determined 
fighting,  than  that  of  those  few  hundred 
brave  fellows."  If  the  fighting  was 
spirited  and  determined  on  the  one  side, 
it  must  have  been  equally  so  on  the  other, 
and  whilst  he  has  designated  the  num- 
ber of  those  engaged  on  th.3  one  part, 
why  not  have  said  that  their  opponents 
were  but  a  few  men  left  to  obstruct  their 
march,  whilst  the  rest  of  the  army  made 
good  their  retreat.  Such  expressions 
from  any  writer,  throw  doubt  upon  the 
narrative  ;  but  from  an  officer  it  reflects 
disgrace,  and  shows  a  bitterness  of  mind 
that  delights  in  traducing.  Here  let  me 
stop;  and  I  will  only  say,  that  I  am  yet 
to  learn  where,  with  equal  numbers  and 
a  fair  field,  the  Yankees  ever  got  tho 
better  of  the  Southern  Rebels. 


APPENDIX. 


The  following  statements  refer  to  the  situa- 
tion of  military  affairs,  and  the  number  of 
troops  engaged  on  both  sides,  and  have  not 
been  embodied  in  the  foregoing  account. 

The  disparity  between  the  forces  of  the  in- 
vaders and  the  defenders  of  the  soil  may  be 
thus  set  forth.  If  the  whole  number  of  men 
under  arms  in  South  Carolina  at  the  time  of 
the  entry  of  Gen.  Sherman  into  the  State 
could  have  been  collected  together  they  would 
have  amounted  to  about  16,000.  Of  these, 
12,000  thousand  were  under  Hardee,  scattered 
along  the  coast ;  2,600  were  under  Stephcnson, 
collected  chiefly  from  fragments  of  the  West' 
ern  army  :  1,400  under  Wheeler,  and  500  unr 
der  Butler,  or  say,  in  round  numbers  2,000 
cavalry.  With  this  small  force  it  was  attempt- 
ed to  hold  in  check  Sherman's  n.rmy.of  75,000 
men.  Major  Barry  >  the  Federal  Chief, of  Ordi- 
nance, in  his  report  to  Gen.  Sherman  .writes : 
"The  number  of  guns  was  reduced  to  on.e  per 
thousand  effective  bayonets.  The  whole  num- 
ber of  field  batteries  were  sixteen,  comprising 
gixtyrcigrht  guns,  which  were  distributed  as 
follows i  lo.tii  Army  Corps,  18  guns;  17th 
Army  Corps,  14  guns',  14th  Army  Corps,  16 
guns;  Cavalry,  4  guns.  Total  68."  Add  to 
to  this  force  the  officers,  and  the  probability 
is  that  the  army  must  have  exceed  75,000  men. 
Hardee  soon  withdrew  to  Charleston,  and  Sher- 
man  started  through  the  swamps,  on  his  grand 
tour  to  sever  the  railroads  and  reach  Columbia. 
Nichols  speaks  of  the  want  of  spirit  in  defend- 
ing the  creeks,  bridges,  etc.,  which  the  Feder- 
als had  to  pass,  and  how  thev  had  turned  our 
flank  and  dashed  through  woods  and  water  to 
drive  the  enemy.  He  would  lead  the  public 


to  suppose  that  desperate  assaults  had  been 
made  against  equal  forces  in  which  Yankee 
boldness  and  stategy  had  prevailed,  when  in 
fact  our  meagre  numbers  only  enabled  us  to 
maintain  a  corps  of  observation,  which  was 
compelled  to  retreat  whenever  the  enemy  ap- 
proached too  near.  In  so  doing  our  troops 
occupied  calmly  and  in  order,  the  next  best 
position  to  which  they  were  assigned. 

If  we  had  had  30,000  men  the  result,  in  all 
probability,  would  have  been  far  different. 
Sherman  would  have  been  deprived  of  the 
pleasure  of  burning  small  villages,  and  indulg- 
ing in  the  smaller  game  of  stealing  horses, 
killing  cows,  hogs,  pigs,  and  sacking  hen  roosts 
and  negro  hovels.  From  the  time  Sherman 
passed  Orangeburg  thero  were  opposed  to  torn 
four  thousand  men,  all  told — a  body  which  any 
one  of  his  corps  would  outnumber  by  three  to 
one.  This  smalt  force  constantly  contested 
his  advance  ;  shirmished  with  him  at  Thorn's 
Creek  f  obstructed  his  movements  at  Granby, 
and  held  him  at  bay.  As  Nichol's  acknowl- 
edges, "the  rebels  successfully  defended  their 
single  line  of  works  on  the  north  side  of  Con- 
garee  Creek  until  about  four  o'clock  this 
afternoon-,"  referring  to  the  operations  of  the 
loth,  preceding  their  entry  into  Columbia, 
This  was  done  by  Wheeler,  with  about  600 
men.  Nichols, continues:  "Our  attempts  to 
cross  the  river  bveipw;the  city  have  met  with 
earnest  opposition.  After  sharp  skirmishing 
we  managed  to  get  .a  few  men  across  the  river 
in  boats.  I  never  sa^w  more  spirited  or  deter* 
mined  fighting  than  that  of  these  few  hundred 
brave  fellows,"  referring  of  course  to  the  Fed- 
eral advance  guard.  He  pays  further  tribute 


to  the  gallantry  of  our  little  army  in  his  ac- 
count of  the  battle  of  Averysborough,  when 
he  writes,  "The  regiment  of  Cnarleston  heavy 
artillery,  made  up  of  the  best  blood  of  Caro- 
lina, was  in  our  immediate  front  during  the 
fight.  It  fought  well,  and  suffered  severely, 
both  in  officers  and  men.  A  larger  proportion 
of  officers  were  wounded  in  this  fight  than  any 
fight  I  have  known."  Yet  these  are  the  men 
who  had  lost  caste — had  become  so  demoral- 
ized that  it  was  impossible  to  recover  their 
position,  etc.  He  adds  further,  "The  rebels 
have  nhown  more  pluck  than  we  have  seen 
in  them  since  Atlanta.  To  be  sure  they  were 
behind  breastworks,  and  fully  equaled  us  in 
numbers  actually  engaged ;  but  they  supposed 
the  whole  army  would  come  up,  which  was 
half  the  battle  to  us  in  its  moral  effect  upon 
them." 

With  such  admissions  as  this,  it  is  wilful 
slander  and  unworthy  of  any  writer,  who  has 
the  true  feelings  and  principles  of  a  gentleman, 
to  make  the  statements  we  have  just  recorded. 
To  return,  however,  to  the  defence  of  Col- 
umbia. Sherman  arrived  here  with  the  whole 
of  his  immense  army,  confronted  by  not  more 
than  5,000  men,  all  told ;  a  difference  of  about 
twelve  to  one.  This  small  force  had  been 
scattered  over  a  space  of  thirty  miles,  and  was 
in  fact  little  more  than  an  army  of  scouts.  So 
if  there  be  any  disgrace  attaching  to  the  de- 
fence of  the  Capitol  of  South  Carolina,  it  surely 
rests  on  Sherman,  who  proved  himself  so  das- 
tardly in  disposition,  fiendish  in  temper,  and 
brutal  in  conduct,  as  to  devastate  a  country 
Avholly  incapable  of  protecting  itself  and  com- 
pletely in  his  power.  Mor  would  he  have  at- 
tempted it,  had  Gen.  Johnston  been  in  com- 
mand with  a  force  of  even  20,000  men.  Foi 
that  officer,  with  about  that  number  of  men 
afterwards  fought  Sherman  at  Bentonville,  anc 
for  three  days  hold  his  great  army,  nearly 
three  larger  than  our  own,  completely  ii 
check.  Unfortunately,  South  Carolina  coulc 
not  have  mustered  20,000  troops  under  any 
circumstances.  Sherman  knew  the  countr 
was  at  his  mercy  and,  like  a  fiend,  he  showec 
none.  In  his  recent  fourth  of  July  speech 
he  boasts  of  having  succeeded  in  effecting  tin 
results  he  intende(J,and  virtually  acknowledge 


he  destruction  he  has  so  often  denied.  In 
act,  the  great  idol  of  the  North,  spoke  scarcely 
a  truth  while  in  South  Carolina.  What  confi- 
lence  can  be  placed  in  a  man  who  thus  offi- 
ially  falsifies  matters  which  come  under  his 
•bservation,  and  disparages  an  enemy  whose 
>rowess  he  had  occasion  to  fear  and  to  respect 
on  every  occasion. 

We  can  only  view  the  march  of  Sherman 
hrough  Georgia  and  the  Carolinas,  as  a  Great 
iaid,  conceived  and  carried  out,  simply  be- 
cause he  anticipated  no  opposition.  Hood's 
bold  and  unfortunate  attempt  in  Tennesee 
eft  the  door  open.  It  was,  in  fact,  safer  for 
;he  Federal  Commander  to  march  to  the  coast 
than  to  retrace  his  steps.  He  came  to  Savan- 
nah because  there  were  few  or  no  obstacles  in 
lis  way  ;  he  pressed  forward  to  Columbia, 
aecause  there  were  few  troops  in  this  direc- 
tion to  contest  his  advance ,  and  he  burnt  the 
city  to  the  ground,  to  gratify  a  fiendish  spirit 
which  revelled  in  the  misery  of  his  fellowmen. 
If  there  is  glory  in  this,  let  him  and  his  friends 
make  the  most  of  it. 

The  impartial  historian  will  record  that  in 
no  single  instance  did  Sherman  ever  whip  Gen. 
Johnston,  or  Kilpatrick  obtain  the  advantage 
of  Gen.  Hampton.  In  truth,  Gen.  Kilpatrick 
does  not  figure  very  boldly  in  the  closing 
scenes  of  the  war,  with  all  the  assistance  of 
Nichols  and  Sherman.  After  his  famous  race 
to  the  swamp  near  Fayetteville,  when  he  took 
his  precipitate  departure  in  his  shirt  and  draws, 
leaving  his  fair  and  frail  school  marm  behind, 
the  great  Yankee  cavalryman  kept  well  under 
the  wing  of  the  infantry. 

I  close  this  brief  review  of  the  military 
operations  of  Gen.  Sherman  in  South  Carolina, 
with  the  following  extract  from  a  letter  writ- 
ten by  a  distinguished  officer,  whose  position 
enabled  him  to  obtain  correct  information, 
and  who  moreover  waa  a  participant  in  the 
scenes  to  which  he  refers : 

"  At  Congaree  creek  not  more  than  600 
men  of  Wheeler's  were  engaged,  and  the 
enemy  only  succeeded  in  dislodging  him  by 
crossing  the  creek  above  and  below  them. 
This  fight  held  Sherman  all  day,  and  he  camp- 
ed that  night  near  the  Congaree  creek.  The 
infantry  were  withdrawn  to  the  Columbia  side 
of  the  river  soon  afcer  dark  and  were  followed 


30 


by  the  cavalry.  The  bridge  was  burned  con- 
trary to  orders.  The  order  was  for  the  Engin- 
eers to  destroy  one  or  two  arches.  Wheeler's 
command  was  placed,  one  brigade  with  Butler 
below  Columbia,  and  the  rest  on  the  Saluda 
river.  There  were  thus  iti  Columbia,  only 
2600  infantry  under  Stephenson,  Butler's  cav- 
alry, about  600  men,  and  one  brigade  of 
Wheeler's,  about  400.  Wheeler  fought  at  the 
Saluda,  and  between  that  fcud  Broad  river, 
which  he  crossed  on  the  evening  of  the  16th. 
At  3  A.  M.,  on  the  17th,  Stephenson  took 
Wheeler's  place,  and  the  latter  marched  higher 
up  the  river.  There  were  about  4,500  to 
5,000  men  in  all,  guarding  the  river  from 
Frost's  plantation  to  Zeigler's  Ferry,  a  distance 
of  about  30  miles.  The  enemy  crossed  during 
the  night  of  the  16th,  in  front  of  the  infantry, 
and  Gen.  Hampton  seeing  that  all  defence  was 
hopeless,  ordered  Stephenson  to  fall  back. 
Soon  after  sun  rise  on  the  17th,  Wheeler  cov- 
ered his  withdrawal." 

An  extract  from  Wheeler's  report  states 
that  "about  nine  o'clock  or  half-past,  when 
near  the  cross  roads,  two  miles  north  of  Col- 
umbia, I  met  the  Mayor  of  Columbia  in  a 
carriage,  preceded  by  a  large  white  flag.  I 
immediately  ordered  the  firing  to  cease,  and 
allowed  him  to  pass  on  to  the  enemy.  I  with- 
drew up  the  Winnsboro  road.  Gen.  Hampton 
shelled  the  camp  of  the  enemy  from  the 
hills  of  East  Granby  on  the  night  of  the  loth, 
and  Butler  repelled  quite  a  severe  attack  upon 
him.  The  artillery  lost  six  or  seven  horses 
killed,  and  there  were  quite  a  number  of  men 
wounded. 

"From  Chester,  we  turned  and  got  on  both 
flanks  of  the  enemy,  and  had  almost  daily 
skirmishes,  some  quite  heavy.  Every  day  from 
50  to  300  prisoners  were  brought  in.  The 
Provost  Marshall  reported  upwards  of  3*,000 
prisoners  turned  over  by  the  cavalry,  and  I 
think  nearly  as  great  a  number  were  killed  and 
wounded.  About  100  wagons,  400  head  of 
cattle  and  several  hundred  head  of  horses,  were 
captured. in  the  campaign.  Sherman's  whole 
loss  from  the  time  he  left  Columbia  to  the  end 
of  the  struggle,  was  not  less  than  10,000  men. 
At  Fayettcville, about  100  Yankee  cavalry  came 


in  when  none  of  our  troops  were  there  ;  eight 
men  charged  them,  routed  them,  killing  eight 
and  capturing  nine — the  leader  and  seven 
men.  Near  Fayetteville,  Kilpatrick  was  at- 
tacked and  his  camp  was  taken,  with  upwards 
of  500  Yankees  and  173  of  our  men,  who  were 
prisoners.  Kilpatrick  escaped  in  his  shirt  and 
draws  only,  leaving  his  fair  and  frail  Yankee 
school  marm,  in  our  hands.  One  of  our  boys 
assisted  in  dressing  her  and  let  her  go  to  her 
protector.  At  Bentonville,  Gen.  Johnston 
attacked  Sherman.  Two  corps  drove  him  a 
mile,  took  three  guns,  and  a  line  of  breast- 
works. Had  his  whole  force  been  in  position 
he  would  have  defeated  Sherman  entirely. 
With  18,000  men,  he  held  his  position  in  front 
of  Sherman's  whole  force,  strengthened  by 
Schofield's  corps  for  three  days,  and  then  re- 
treated without  loss.  From  to  Hills- 

boro,  the  cavalry  were  engaged  every  day, 
covering  the  retreat  of  the  infantry.  Some 
of  these  affairs  were  quite  serious,  and  all 
creditable  to  our  army.  The  day  before  Ra- 
leigh was  evacuated,  it  was  desirable  to  check 
the  advance  of  the  enemy  as  much  as  possible, 
in  order  to  remove  the  stores",  etc.  With  one 
brigade  only,  and  Bntler's  Command,  and  two 
batteries  of  artillery,  two  corps  of  the  enemy 
were  so  steadily  engaged,  that  they  advanced 
only  five  miles  in  six  hours.  When  we  evac- 
uated Raleigh,  Kilpatrick  charged  Hampton's 
rear-guard.  We  turned  on  him,  charged  and 
drove  him  back  in  confusion,  taking  prisoners, 
and  killing  and  wounding  some  of  his  men. 
This  was  the  last  fight  of  Hampton's  command 
and  it  was  a  success." 

No  v  let  me  ask  with  such  facts  before  him, 
Nichols  being  Sherman's  aid,  what  epithet 
should  be  attacked  to  his  honored  name,  when 
he  could  pen  the  following  lines. 

"The  Rebels  hope  that  Johnston  will  be  able 
to  recall  and  reinforce  that  army  ;  but  no  man 
living  has  that  power.  He  might  as  well  try 
to  reclothe  the  naked  limbs  of  those  oaks  trees 
yonder  on  the  hill  side,  with  last  years  foliage 
of  green  ;  or  a  task  more  impossible  yet,  re- 
store to  the  Southern  Gentlemen,  their  lost 
reputation  for  chivalry,  honor  and  manhood." 


ft  (£>  / 


UNIVERSITY  OF 


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